The Magazine for LEGO® Enthusiasts of All Ages! Issue 66 • March 2021
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HOLLY JOLLY
MARK VOGER’s sleigh ride thru Christmas pop culture, spotlighting classic holiday movies, music, TV, books, decor, comics, and more!
The Many Rovers of Tom Frost
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Yuansheng He’s Photography
INSTRUCTIONS AND MORE!
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Issue 66 • March 2021
Contents From the Editor....................................................2
People Photo Feature: Alexandre Rossier...............................................3 Yuansheng He: Picturing it in Bricks!..........................................8 Tommy Frost: Rovers All Over!................................................16
Building Jonas Kramm: A Builder for All Themes!...........................24 One Little Spark... ............................................30 Dario Del Frate: Crystallizing Ideas........................................38
Maxim Baybakov: Building a City................................................42 Kyle Sezawich’s Apollo Era Complex 39..............................48 You Can Build It: Zeta Class Shuttle.........................................54 Minifigure Customization 101: Inspector Gadget, Hoo Hoo!....................62
Don’t STEAL our Digital Editions! C’mon citizen, DO THE RIGHT THING! A Mom & Pop publisher like us needs every sale just to survive! DON’T DOWNLOAD OR READ ILLEGAL COPIES ONLINE! Buy affordable, legal downloads only at
www.twomorrows.com or through our Apple and Google Apps!
Community Bantha Bricks Files: Kirk Haksever’s Rogue Shadow..................68 Community Ads...............................................78 Last Word.............................................................79 Bricks in the Middle........................................80
& DON’T SHARE THEM WITH FRIENDS OR POST THEM ONLINE. Help us keep producing great publications like this one! Coraline TM & © Neil Gaiman • Harry Potter TM & © Warner Bros./JK Rowling • Star Wars TM & © Lucasfilm • Inspector Gadget TM & © Wildbrain Ltd. • Ant-Man, Wasp TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. • Aladdin, Jasmine, Figment & Dreamfinder, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse TM & © Disney • Wall-E TM & © Pixar
From the Editor: Hi! So my publisher asked me a question about renders showing up in BrickJournal. It’s a fair question which I think I should take the time to answer here.
March 2021 Issue 66 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 Bantha Bricks Correspondent Steven Smyth Contributors: Maxim Baybakov, Buggyirk, Jared Burks, Christopher Deck, Dario Del Frate, Tommy Frost, Kirk Hacksever, Yuansheng He, Kevin Hinkle, Matthew Kay, Jonas Kramm, Alexandre Rossier, Kyle Sezawich, and Steven Smyth.
It wasn’t too long ago that builds could be done on the computer that were impossible in actuality, mainly because the programs didn’t recognize the idea of solidity—a part could go right into another part in any way. For that reason, the idea of using renders was something I intially was very leery of. Ten years ago, programs were much simpler, and one could tell the difference between a render and a photo. That has changed. With LEGO Digital Designer, parts were solid and clicked together like they should, and other programs gained that functionality. With that, the idea of building expanded dramatically. Rendering has also improved by leaps and bounds, so much that it takes a trained eye to see what is real and what isn’t. But what makes this something for BrickJournal is that now, anyone can build with almost any part out there. That is something we should embrace and display. And we will. Joe Meno, editor P.S. Have ideas or comments? Drop me a line at brickjournal@gmail.com. I’m open to suggestions and comments and will do my best to reply. P.P.S... Yes, BrickJournal has a website — www.brickjournal.com! Twitter? Yep, there too — http://twitter.com/brickjournal. Facebook? Yup — http://www.facebook.com/group. php?gid=58728699914&ref=mf. Or you can scan the bottom codes with a QR reader!
Website
Subscriptions
Many thanks to the websites who have served as mirrors for BrickJournal:
www.LUGNET.com, www.Brickshelf.com, www.peeron.com, www.brickmodder.net www.rustyclank.com
About the Cover: Yuansheng He makes the cover with a render (!) of 1886, London. About the Contents: Yuan does his version of Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch.”
Star Wars and all related characters and properties TM & © Lucasfilm.
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. Six-issue subscriptions are $68 Economy US, $80 Expedited US, $103 International, or $27 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 of2the LDraw suite. For more information, please visit http://www.ldraw.org.
People
Alexandre Rossier is a designer and photographer that has been a LEGO builder for 44 years. He never ougrew LEGO building, and as a result, he isn’t sure that he grew up yet. But if you ask him what his favorite builds are, he’ll answer by saying that he likes to recreate iconic existing vehicles, such as cars and locomotives, and also create his own futuristic designs. Science-fiction, cool mechancal things, architecture and nature are all inspirations to him. His favorite themes are Creator Expert and Technic, but it used to be LEGO Space in the ’80s.
Photo Feature:
Alexandre rarely builds sets anymore, as he finds the challenges with creating a new MOC (aesthetics, stability, functionality, strength, to name a few) more fun. He somestimes starts a build by making some quick hand sketches to visualize his ideas. Other times he starts by directly going to building with the brick. For him, the creation of a model is a process of building, experimenting, testing, diassembling, updating, and improving.
Article by Joe Meno Photography by Alexandre Rossier
Alexandre Rossier
With many projects in progress, Alexandre photographs them as he progresses. This is a small sampe of his work, showing two LEGO Ideas submissions and an annual project he does for Christmas: a new vehicle for Santa to travel in! There will be more about Alexande and his builds next issue!
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Polarwolf Exploration Vehicle This futuristic vehicle, from the snow-groomer brand Prinoth, has been designed to cope with the extreme conditions reigning at the poles. The four independent track units are attached to suspended arms, which are centrally hinged to the main body. The central part is dedicated to the cargo (accessible with a ramp and a conveyor belt), the twin X16 engines (powered by hydrogen) and main radar are at the back, while the front part features the passengers headquarters and the cockpit, accessible through a ramp. All remotecontrolled: 9 motors, 4 IR receivers, 2 battery boxes. What a nice machine it is for Santa Claus!
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Rosenbauer Panther The Rosenbauer PANTHER 8x8 is one of the most impressive airport fire trucks in the world. With a top speed of 135 km/h, a length of 13m, a weight of 52 tons and two engines with a total output of 1450 hp, it can rescue aircrafts quickly. Its roof turret can project water up to 100m. This vehicle has always fascinated me, and after having seen it in action several times on practice at air shows, I decided to build a 1:22 replica. At 60 cm long, it is made of 2,900 parts. The turret can be raised, the lateral compartments
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opened, and the two engines are visible under the rear removable bodywork. Currently on LEGO IDEAS, this project is approaching 6000 supports. You can support it by going here: https://ideas.lego. com/projects/32f95c5f-7db7-4e6c-b5a180012eea3343 or by scanning the QR code.
Auto Union Type C ‘Bergrennen’ 1:8 replica of the 1936 Grand Prix car developed by Ferdinand Porsche for Auto Union. The layout was revolutionary with a mid-mounted V16 engine developing 550 HP, and twin rear tires to increase traction on hillclimb races. The model is 50cm long and is a combination of LEGO Technic elements for the chassis, and LEGO system for the bodywork. The challenge was to ape the smooth aerodynamic cigar shape of the original car and be able to disassemble
the body panels to admire the mechanical underpinnings. The model has been submitted to LEGO IDEAS, and is close to 9,000 supports already! You can vote for it by going to: https://ideas.lego.com/ projects/6d59a613-60d0-4d48-b99e1a6d4d6dbe85 or by scanningthe QR code.
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People
Yuansheng He:
Picturing it in Bricks! 8
Article and Photography by Yuansheng He
Yuansheng He has only been in the hobby for a few years, but has gotten the attention of many with his photography of his builds. His Instagram account (@lego_nuts) has over 22,000 followers and almost 300 posts since he began posting in October 2018. This was also the same time that Yuan began his adult building. Now 34 years old, the interior designer got back into building when his wife got him a LEGO Star Wars X-wing starfighter. Since then he has been building and photographing his creations. He also has begun to build digitally using the Mecabricks building platform, and renders his models photorealistically in 3DS Max. While he enjoys creating spaceships and futuristic models, Yuan’s creations are inspired from movies, TV shows, and illustrations. He likes to extend the stories of the characters beyond what is on the screen or books. Once he has an idea, he researches online using Pinterest or Wikipedia to study the background and architectural style on particular themes.
Boating Night
A night scene with the final photo above, and a look behind the scenes at the left.
His interior design skills also help. LEGO building helps him to study, explore and understand the structure of a space, and LEGO photography gives him an opportunity to combine his hobby and professional skill. Determining color combinations, interior layout, and lighting source locations are all connected. Scale is the only difference between a LEGO space and a real space. Yuan began to photograph his models after he saw a LEGO 9
Don’t be Afraid, You Will Have a Wonderful Adventure!
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A scene with the completed shot at top and setup to the left. Note that the building facade on the right page is built some distance behind the rest of the build. This blurs when photographed, so the depth is enhanced.
photographer on Instagram. Realizing that he could tell stories with his photos and bricks, he began shooting photos. Initially, Yuansheng focused on minifigures, but as he became more skilled in building, he expanded his photography to include scenes and vignettes he built. For Yuan, LEGO building offers him artistic freedom. Without the limitations of the real world, he really enjoys the infinite possibilities with LEGO and
photography, with himself as the director of his own creation. The medium is very flexible, and he can control every detail. The time taken to build a model for photography can vary. Usually it takes three to four days for a physical build and one additional day for shooting.
Oops, sorry...
The completed scene is above, while in-progress shots are at the right. Studs are on the final layout to secure the figures and tiles.
For digital builds it takes Yuan about the same amount of time, but it may take longer to render the completed scene. Besides research, lighting set-up is a key feature of Yuan’s builds and photos. Most of his works are set in either sunset or nighttime, which represent warm and cold color. He likes to use these two lighting schemes because they are easy to control and can create stunning effects. The sunset setting is warm, and the sunlight is not that strong compared to daylight, which can give a dramatic effect. For nighttime, the combination of cold blue skylight and warm artificial lighting give a color contrast which easily draws attention. These observations are based on observing the real world and work for indoor and outdoor lighting.
Wanna Race?
A night scene with the final photo above, and a look at the street on the left. With such a close shot, only facades are needed to create a scene.
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Out of the scenes and builds that he has done Yuan’s hardest build was for his Harry Potter build, “Oops, Sorry.” There he tried to recreate the wand shelves from the Ollivander Wand Shop in the Harry Potter films. Because the wand box had to look like it was placed randomly, it took him a long time to place 1x2 flat tiles to create messy shelves.
(on next page)
Date Time?
An Aladdin-inspired scene is captured with a photo. Below it are two construction photos showing the facades as they are built.
Picking a best work out of all of his photos and models is a problem for Yuan. He puts in a lot of effects in each, but if he had to single a photo out, he would pick the photo that reached, 10,000 likes on Instagram, his WALL-E scene, “Magnificent.” Yuan’s building processes, as mentioned earlier, are inspired by extending the characters from a movie or book beyond what has been seen or written. He
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has a rough idea of what he wants to build in his mind from the beginning and develops and improvises more ideas during the building of the model. He has no specific rule for LEGO building—sometimes, the unexpected is better than what is planned out. As for why he builds, that answer is simple: Yuan loves to create! He estimates that about 80% of his builds are his own creations or inspired by something he likes, such as movies scenes. His current project is much bigger and has kept him from building much as of late: he is creating his home LEGO studio. With that, he is trying to create a comfortable space for LEGO building, with lots of brick storage that he can easily access to improve his productivity.
Hey Ant-thony, Where are You Going?
A scene from the movie Ant-Man, with the final photo above, and a photo of the tube that was built for the shot.
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Yuan offers these thoughts for advice to builders: “I think storytelling really matters and good lighting attracts an audience. Try to work on these skills and I think you will find yourself transforming to an excellent LEGO builder and photographer. Practice, observe, try, and finally, be enthusiastic about what you are doing!”
(on next page)
Magnificent! The first of Yuan’s work to pass 10,000 likes on Instagram.
You can see Yuan’s photos at his Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/lego_ nuts/ or you can scan the QR code below!
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People
Tommy Frost:
Rovers All Over!
Article and Photography by Tommy Frost Tommy Frost is a builder that combined his love of trains, vehicles and Space into a building event that happens every February: FebRovery, where the entire month is devoted to making rovers of all types! Tommy’s work has been seen online and BrickJournal decided to talk to him about his building and his rovers.
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BrickJournal: How old are you? Tommy Frost: I am 40 years young! What do you do? I am an Elementary school Art Teacher in western Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. Working with children, especially on creative endeavors, helps to keep me young (at least in my mind). How long have you been building? I was a big fan of LEGO as a kid, especially the LEGOLand Space and Town themes. I caught the tail end of the classic space era, and I was fascinated by the space factions of the late Eighties and the early Nineties: Blacktron, Space Police, M:Tron, Blacktron II. My first MOCs were in these themes. As I grew older, I became interested in Technic and Model Team and began to integrate functional elements into my builds. I can remember building a big Blacktron II vehicle that was remote controlled using the 8094 Technic Control Center. As a teenager, my interests were elsewhere, and my “Dark Ages” began. In 2005, I first visited a LEGO brand store, at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, and I bought my first LEGO sets as an adult. What got you into building as an adult? What’s your favorite theme? What inspired you to build something besides a set? It was after this trip that my interest in LEGO building was reawakened. Many of my first “grown-up” MOCs were designed in LDRAW, before sourcing the parts from Bricklink and building in real life, because, at the time, my collection was relatively small. Some of my first MOCs were cars and trains, two of my other lifelong interests. When LEGO released the collectible minifigures, I naturally gravitated to the new space figures like the pink “Intergalactic Girl” from Series 6 and the “Galaxy Patrol” space marine from Series 7. I began to
design and build themes and factions around these figures. I enjoyed creating the color schemes based on the figure designs and imagining the worlds they inhabited and the roles they played in the greater LEGO space universe. I found the online LEGO community on Flickr and posted these early MOCs. I received a lot of inspiration and encouragement from other builders, and my style and building techniques quickly improved as I began to incorporate what I had observed and learned from others. In 2015, I discovered and joined Steel City LUG, the Pittsburgh area LEGO Users Group. Joining the LUG gave me the opportunity to work with other talented builders and get involved in collaborative displays around the Pittsburgh area. I also spend a lot of time building with my son, Jonah (age 9), who is becoming a talented MOC builder in his own right, and my daughter Penelope (age 6).
Some examples of “what if” building by Tommy.
What are the inspirations behind your builds? Inspiration can come from just about anywhere. Many of my space MOCs begin with a “what if” idea, inspiration from a certain combination of parts, or an idea for a new color scheme. How long can it take to build a model? I tend to build fairly quickly. My typical builds, like my rovers, are usually built in one sitting. Other, more complicated models or scenes, of course, take longer. Do you design your builds on paper beforehand? I usually do not design on paper, with a few exceptions. If I am building a larger, multi-baseplate display that incorporates trains or monorail track, then I will do some blueprinting on paper, but for the most part, most of my designing occurs in my mind. I’ll get an idea in my head, try to come up with solutions for connections or functions, then try them out when I get a chance to get my hands on the bricks. Often, when I start building, much of what I had planned in my head will change.
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What’s a build you are most proud of? I’m probably most well-known for my space models during the month of February, built during the annual theme month of FebRovery. Something about wheeled space vehicles has always appealed to me. One of the first sets I remember receiving as a child was 1558 “Mobile Command Trailer” and 6895 “SpyTrack I” was probably my favorite set. I had at least three copies and spent many hours exploring strange planets and arresting the Blacktron baddies. FebRovery is about that same child-like excitement and boundless imagination. It is not a contest, and there are not strict constraints on form or features. This was a place for me to build what I enjoyed building and an opportunity to share it with others who appreciate the same things. In 2015, and every year since, I have challenged myself to publish a new rover for each day in February. Some of my favorite builds have come out of this yearly marathon. In 2016, I created the Galactic Terrestrial Rover Racing League. All of these rovers were built by creating alternate models for vintage space sets. These rovers featured big spoilers, a rakish angle, and in some cases, some very unusual parts usage for the wheels.
This model is an updated version of another of my favorite classic space sets, the 6952 ”Solar Power Transporter“. I designed this for a Steel City LUG build challenge in 2016, for my first LUG meeting, in fact. I wanted to include the modular features of the original: the cabs can separate from the central unit and reattach together, and the cabs can also transform into flying vehicles. The old grey and transparent green classic space color scheme was always one of my favorites, and I gave it a modern twist here by introducing transparent bright green instead.
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I revisited this color scheme and styling design with the Spacetrain that I built in 2017. With an ultralow profile and completely hidden wheels, this Power Functions-powered train, dubbed the ”ST100”, had the appearance of a high-speed maglev. My goal for this build was to create a low, sleek, futuristic operating train, and it was a real challenge to fit all of the Power Functions components into such a small space. It looks great running along the augmented tracks at high speed.
Many of my FebRovery rovers are rough sketches or silly ideas, and very few last long beyond February, but each year a few of them turn into more serious MOCs that I can’t quite bear to dismantle. The Medical Response Rover from 2017 is one of these.
These builds are based on a prototype LEGO space faction that LEGO had developed in the late Eighties. It has become known as GREY:Tron, and I like to imagine that they were responsible for manufacturing all those little brick-built robots and droids from the Classic Space era. I love having a color scheme and story idea to explore.
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I also really enjoy telling stories with my builds. In 2019, I introduced the character of Honest John, the slick used-rover salesman. Throughout the month, John tried to sell spaceman Lenny a new rover after his trusty 886 was dyed pink due to a practical joke.
I love bringing back old and familiar characters and tying their ongoing storylines together. In the end, Lenny gets a rover he can appreciate.
This two-wheeled classic space rover is another great example of a build that was driven by the ”what if” wheel design. I really enjoy the challenge of coming up with different ways to make wheels.
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A million years before the onset of the Martian Water Crisis... at the peak of civilization on Mars, the Martian Minivan boasted seating for eight, state-of-the-art infotainment system, “Earth-view” wraparound windscreen, and thirty-five cup holders. Rumor has it that the 1984 Dodge Caravan was reverse engineered from one of these babies at Area 51.
Another faction I have been developing is Whitetron. I created a figure based around the classic Blacktron design and imagine a world where color doesn’t exist. This can be quite a challenge since many of my builds greatly rely on color. I really enjoy building in this theme and have some plans for developing it further.
I’m always on the lookout for new parts to use for my rovers. When the new, wider Speed Champions sets introduced some new windscreens, I immediately began to plan how I could incorporate them.
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For 2021, I built a couple of new rovers for FebRovery. The first is a Teal:TRON rover that features a modular design like the Classic Space sets. The main cab separates from the rover to become a small flying vehicle, while a droid in the secondary cab pilots the terrestrial section. The second all-new rover is an allterrain transport rover built in the familiar livery of one of my recurring characters, Kepler Van Allen.
This Ice Planet themed rover uses LEGO branded pencil erasers as tires. I also pushed the color scheme further by introducing some newer LEGO colors like Vibrant Coral.
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How do you build? Do you plan your builds or just start building til you’re finished? My rover builds often begin with an idea for a new design or concept for the wheels. Next, I decide on a color scheme, often driven by a faction affiliation or the limited color availability of a certain windscreen. Many times, like in this Venusian Fly rover, I start with these components and see where it takes me.
Why do you build? Do you build because you want to make a replica of something? Or just want to create? Or something else entirely? For me, LEGO is definitely a creative outlet. Other artists work with oils or clay; my medium of choice is those little plastic bricks! When I get an idea, it is like an itch that needs scratching. I sometimes describe this as “the Creative Imperative.” There is a restlessness that I feel until I can take the idea and make it real. What other projects are you working on? I always have more ideas than I have time to create them! I am currently working on a large scale (40 x 80 inch) model depicting the planet Whitetron. I really want to spend some time further developing and exploring their world. This model will include a new Spacetrain, monorail, new rovers and ships, and a large research outpost. I hope to have it completed by the Summer of 2021. What advice would you give to beginning builders? My advice to beginning builders would be to build as much as possible. Try new things and don’t be afraid of failure. For every successful MOC I’ve built, there have been many that were just “meh” and plenty that never left the workbench, and that’s okay. It is all part of the creative process. Look to others for inspiration, new techniques, and ideas, but don’t feel like you need to build like anyone else. I build to express my own creativity and for my own enjoyment; if others are also entertained by what I create, that is just icing on the cake.
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Building
Road to the Fruit Festival.
Jonas Kramm:
A Builder for All Themes! Article and Photography by Jonas Kramm
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One of the top builders seen online is Jonas Kramm. A 24-year-old German graphic designer, he also writes and does LEGO building for the German LEGO news website StoneWars.de. He’s been building as long as he can remember and never had a Dark Age. The closest he got to quitting was when he switched over to LEGO Technic building. He switched back to the normal bricks since then. Now, the Technic pieces come in handy since he is making his builds more kinetic. LEGO building turned out to be the perfect way for Jonas to express himself and make his ideas come alive. He loves the limits because of the colors and bricks available, so everyone has the same starting point. With creativity, attention to detail and a lot of effort, one can push the system to its limit. Every time he takes the bricks in his hand he has a good time, and what makes it better is the LEGO fan community. They make the entire effort worth it as everyone is so kind and positive, not only on the social networks Instagram and Flickr, but also in person when meeting at events and hanging together. When asked about a favorite theme, Jonas’ quick answer is LEGO Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The long answer, though, is that pretty much everything inspires him. He switches between themes he builds regularly as he likes to try out a variety of different themes, often inspired by movies, games, or just from concept art he spotted while browsing. In the end it’s important that the theme fits his building style. He enjoys the LEGO hobby most when he
can fully dive into a build and spend as much time as he wants to figure out the smallest details to make it a dense and interesting model that people love to zoom in on and explore. Jonas never questioned why he couldn’t build things with the bricks beside official sets. Luckily, his parents never cared about that, as he put all of his LEGO bricks in one bin to come up with builds from his own imagination, with no consideration that you couldn’t sell the sets later, as happens these days. In his childhood, he built the sets first and then started modifying them. This changed in his teens to just buying sets to get new bricks. These days, most sets he buys never get built and only get sorted in his sorting system. With the rising quality of the official LEGO set, he enjoys it more and more to make a set, build it and enjoy the very advanced building techniques used. They often give him new inspiration and show clever ideas he hasn’t thought of. The ideas he has thought of have been seen online at StoneWars.de. His Brick Rooms have been posted there with the idea to inspire people to build their own models. Initially Jonas started the series at the site to give readers an insight into how his models are built. Often beginners just see a picture of a finished build and get so overwhelmed they get discouraged to try building by themselves. His series of rooms are designed in a particular way so he can showcase each part of the model on its own and explain how they are done. The idea is not just to (continued on page 28)
Temple of the Blue Sea, an alternate build of a few LEGO Trolls sets.
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BUILDING A scene Creating a model of a room or scene requires attention to detail. Here is how Jonas Kramm makes a scene come to life with smaller models to dress the scene.
Bunk bed
WARdrobe
The bedroom instantly shows who sleeps there with a bunk bed. The bed ladder is attached to the bottom bunk.
The wardrobe uses window shutters as doors and clips and a bar to make a coat rack.
Shelves The bottom shelves actually can be moved and have folded clothes, thanks to tiles and an ‘ingot’ tile.
desk The desk is only a few parts, but has a lot of detail, thanks to some SNOT building.
soccer table The soccer table, like the bunk bed, is held together with bars and clips. There are four assemblies (two sides and the field halves) that are kept in place by 1 x 4 bricks with side studs. The soccer players are 1 x 1 round plates with open studs threaded with a 6L (stud) bar with stop. These are then clipped to the table.
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BUILDING A scene: renovations Here is another example of how Jonas Kramm makes a scene come to life with smaller models to dress the scene.
light
radiator
A work light set aside adds to the clutter of the scene shown in the room. The lamp is only a few parts, yet adds a touch of realism.
The radiator is a simple series of 1 x 2 plates with rounded corners with a 1 x 4 bar through them They are attached to a clip on the wall.
ladder The ladder is a bar ladder with robot arms clipped to 1 x 4 bars for support. The paint brush and bucket are minifigure accessories.
paint roller The paint roller uses a paint roller piece, a telescope, a bar, and a 1 x 1 round brick. The pans are actually windows and window frames.
WALL paint The wall paint is actually built. While the majority of the paint is just stacked bricks and plates, the angled area is made by using sloped bricks for the angle— one side uses a corner slope that is two studs wide on one side and an inverse slope on the other. To make a proper fit, a hinge top is used on the bottom and a rounded slope is on the top.
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show the end result, but also to share the techniques and inspire others to use it as a starting point for their creations. Jonas is often asked how he comes up with the details for his models, so he wants to show with these builds that it’s mostly observation of the real world and then putting all the elements in one scene. He doesn’t come up with the household items himself; they are just there waiting to get built.
Braavos castle from Game of Thrones.
Black castle from Game of Thrones.
Each room Jonas builds takes about two to three days to complete. Sometimes he has the right idea immediately, sometimes it takes more than one try to make it right. He rarely makes sketches for the room. Instead he ‘sketches’ out the build roughly with bricks. To fill the rooms he makes a list of every item and piece of furniture that can fit in the room and then makes a LEGO version of these step-by-step. Building MOCs for over ten years has given Jonas many challenges, especially since he likes to join in building competitions that push him out of his comfort zone. His hardest builds were the Games of Thrones castles. The castles, recreated from the show opening credits, rise up and are in constant movement. Beforehand, he built static models to share photos or maybe transport to a display, but for these castles he had to learn a lot about moving elements: What’s the best way to use gears? How can the mechanisms be hidden as best as possible? Unlike any other model, he first built the technical part of the castle to run smoothly before placing the rest of the walls around. Another challenge was to come up with unique kinds of movements to make each kinetic castle stand out. He’s especially happy that he got the mini ball contraption in his Braavos model to work. In terms of building style, Jonas can best be described as the guy who tries until it works. He does make some thoughts before building, often regarding the composition of the build, which elements should be included, and also which colors should work. Then he just starts building with actual bricks, tackling the primary details. From there it just keeps growing. In the best cases, he gets even more good ideas while building that will help him to fill the model. Jonas builds for the enjoyment of building and sharing his work, but there is another level of motivation. He feels in his builds he wants to transport the spirit and the feel of a certain scene. A good example would be in his Jurassic Park series of builds, where he took complex movie scenes and converted them to easily recognizable vignettes. They seem to be exact copies of the movie, but when compared next to each other, one realizes, for example, that the computer is now placed next to the digging scene or the fence is scaled down. This was done to fit the small footprint of the vignette while keeping the scene recognizable.
Jurassic Park vignette.
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As of presstime, Jonas was competing in the Iron Builder competition. Based on the Iron Chef TV show, Iron Builder is a one versus one challenge, where the competitors build for 15 days, with each build making use of a specific seed part. His seed part is the yellow train track switch, which usually only comes with the 9V or RC train track switches. The color and geometry of the piece really limit the building possibilities for the part, so both competitors have to be extra creative to find good uses. From the Iron Build came a favorite build for Jonas. The creation Zhi Quo’s Vegetables is a build that he is really proud of as he combines the true nature of the Iron Builder “seed part use” with a great looking model. It’s worth exploring as one will discover the yellow train track switch was used at several places, most prominently the roof. It’s also in the scale, a seat for the bike, lamps, an easel, minimalistic figures, and sign lettering (which are actually from the Ninjago alphabet). Beside the track switches, he used hairpieces for salad and the arms from the cactus minifigure as cucumbers. Jonas offers some thoughts to other builders: “Enjoy LEGO building! Neither scale or number of bricks define your creation, but the love and attention to detail you put into it. Practice is key, and when builders share how they build something, make sure to pay attention; there is always a building technique that you haven’t thought of yet.”
Zhi Quo’s Vegetables.
Jurassic Park vignette.
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People
one little spark... Article by Joe Meno Art and Photography by Buggyirk The builder known online as Buggyirk has built imaginative models from worlds of the movies and theme parks, to worlds of his own. With each build comes a story, whether it be one that is already known or one he has to flesh out. When he is not building, Buggyirk works in the information technology area of the healthcare field with the software used for diagnostic imaging and results/documentation in a patient medical records. He records and coordinates issue resolution and systems updates between many teams, and is involved in the configuration/development/training of the software and creation of training materials. Way before that, he entered his LEGO Dark Ages in either the sixth or seventh grade. He remembers giving the little bit of LEGO bricks he had to a friend because he thought he
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The Dream Machine.
needed to grow up. His friend was actually one grade ahead of him. Buggyirk still regrets that decision, as what he gave was a blue bucket set, the M-Tron Celestial Forager (6896), the M-Tron Beacon Tracer (6833) from 1990, and the Technic Mountain Rambler (8820) from 1991. He only had four sets, but he got years of use out of those bricks. Fast forward to 2008. In his early twenties, Buggyirk started buying some smaller sets after getting nostalgic while perusing the toy aisle. The Indiana
the music. They were honing their craft in private and hadn’t performed live yet, but both fell severely ill due to toxic mold in their apartment. This pretty much ended their musical careers—they were actually working on the final recordings for their debut album when they were struck down. He reflects, “In hindsight, our personalities probably weren’t the best fit for the rock star lifestyle, so we have made our peace with how things turned out.” They not only lost their main artistic outlet during this time, they also lost pretty much everything they owned to the mold, and all their savings went to medical bills. While they slowly rebuilt their lives and their health from the ground up, Buggyirk also started to build his LEGO collection back up. This period also inspired a LEGO build: “The Obstacles of Our Dream.” Around 2013, Buggyirk found out about LEGO Ideas (then called LEGO CUUSOO). He hadn’t really been building his own creations, but decided he wanted to make a movieaccurate, minifigure scale version of the Batman Begins Tumbler. He explains, “That movie was so inspirational for me and the Tumbler became my favorite movie vehicle. Ever since the Tumbler project, I have become pretty obsessed with coming up with a LEGO Idea that will become an official LEGO set.”
Jones and Batman themes really got him excited about LEGO again, and he ended up getting some sets: the Indiana Jones Motorcycle Chase (7620) and the Tumbler Joker’s Ice Cream Surprise (7888). The Tumbler set was a little out of his price range at the time, and he recalls feeling a bit guilty for buying it. Back then, he didn’t have much free time to build because he and his wife were working full-time jobs as well as writing and recording music in a band together. The band was their obsession, and they were the only members. His wife was the singer and wrote the lyrics and melodies, while he wrote and produced all
His wife doesn’t quite share the same level of obsession with LEGO Ideas that he does, but he frequently collaborates with her on his projects. She handles the minifigures/parts graphic design and also tests the stability of his models. Her username is jiminiyc on LEGO Ideas. His favorite collaboration they have done together has been the working Pinocchio Marionette, but Buggyirk’s favorite graphic design work from her came from the work she did for their Coraline Magical Garden LEGO Ideas set. Buggyirk tells, “She puts everything she has into all of our projects though, so I really love what she 31 brings to all of them.”
More views of the Dream Machine.
With all the sets that have been released since Buggyirk got back into building, he continues to be impressed with the sets that are released every year. “Just when I think that ‘there won’t be another set that beats this one,’ BAM!—there’s another one! The Byer’s house from Stranger Things is a set I never thought would happen.” He continues, “If I could afford all the latest Harry Potter sets and had space to store them, I would buy them all. Those movies really helped me and my wife cope with some dark times in our adulthood, so they have a special place in our hearts.”
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Aside from the Harry Potter theme, he likes how LEGO has been incorporating game play into their products lately with the Hidden Side and Super Mario themes. He usually doesn’t play with his LEGO sets except for maybe rolling a vehicle around or swooshing something through the air. Buggyirk mostly
Beware the Full Moon! Another complex build that Buggyirk has built is a dynamic vignette with a Remus Lupin Brickheadz. Not only is Remus a custom build, but in the vignette, with a twist of the side crank, Remus switches from human to werewolf as the clouds above part to present a full moon!
Remus Lupin in human form...
Buggyirk says, “It took a lot of experimenting to get the werewolf transformation to happen at the same time as the reveal of the full moon, but there is something so satisfying about turning the crank to see the clouds part and Remus transform.”
...and in werewolf form!
You can see a video of the vignette in action at Buggyirk’s Flickr gallery.
The gearwork before...
...and after!
just savors the build process and enjoys displaying the completed sets. He also enjoys dismantling them and sorting the pieces afterwards. The Hidden Side and Super Mario themes really encourage him to play more with the sets, but it’s a shame that the Hidden Side theme is ending soon.
builds. The Dream Machine project gave me an opportunity to make a new steampunk build and also add something truly unique to the online catalogue of AFOL steampunk builds.”
From there, the jump to building new creations isn’t hard for Buggyirk. He usually gets inspired by the challenge of trying to use LEGO pieces to replicate something that exists already. Sometimes he gets inspired by a specific LEGO piece—seeing this piece representing a specific part of something he wants to build or just experimenting to see what he can do with it. Inspired by the original Journey into Imagination ride at Walt Disney World and the Figment comics, Buggyirk built a model of Dreamfinder’s Dream Machine. Buggyirk really identified with the story of the Dreamfinder in the comics. He had a tiny inkling of making a LEGO Ideas set after reading the comics, but he waited a couple of years and didn’t decide to do it until now. While researching Figment (a purple dragon and unofficial mascot of the ride), he found out about the original Journey into Imagination ride. He also watches a lot of Disney video logging on Youtube, so he was already familiar with Figment and Dreamfinder. It turned out that one of Buggyirk’s favorite styles of LEGO builds is steampunk. “When I saw the Dream Machine,” he says, “it really sparked my LEGO imagination. I had never seen anything quite like it in the AFOL community or otherwise. Up until then I had only built two other original steampunk
Buggyirk always starts his creations as a self-challenge. For this one, he told himself that he wasn’t going to continue the project unless he could create an appealing brick-built Figment. He states, “After lots of trial and error, I finally figured out how well the frog piece translated into the shape of Figment’s head, and then the rest of the figure fell into place.” He wonders, “Is there a more diverse piece than the frog piece? Other more complex brickbuilt heads were just too large and off-putting.”
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“Reproducing all the pipe work, balloon, gears, and mechanisms was very difficult to create in LEGO elements,“ Buggyirk explains. He really tried to keep the scale of the different pipes true to the Dream Machine in the original ride. Having it all connect was also very challenging. With all of these different factors, the Dream Machine was probably the most intricate build he has ever done.
The Coraline Magical Garden, with the Praying Mantis tractor.
He had planned to build more. A support structure was started, but Buggyirk discovered that LEGO Ideas did not accept projects based on Walt Disney World rides. His wife saw the structure he was working on and pointed out that it was distracting from the build. He agreed and abandoned supports altogether. He wanted the Dream Machine model to stand on its own since it was already so complex. Buggyirk usually starts a build digitally, testing the build’s stability with real elements, and making any necessary edits in the software. It’s a very back and forth process between digital and real life. He used to build with LEGO Digital Designer, but when LEGO stopped supporting the software, he started using Mecabricks.com. “I just build faster digitally and can go through more trial and error to get the best connection and seamless design without all the wear and tear on my LEGO collection,” he concludes.
Overhead view of the Coraline Magical Garden.
The Praying Mantis tractor.
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Building time is something Buggyirk doesn’t usually keep track of, but for a 3000 piece project, it can take him three months to finish in his free time. The time it takes him to complete a project goes down significantly as the part count decreases, but adding functions with gearing can increase the time. However, Mecabricks has really saved him a lot of rendering time with his recent projects. It used to take him all night to do one render for a project, but now it takes a matter of minutes. Because of the now short time frame, he can really experiment and make the renders as good as possible. It does cost money to make these renders, though. The Dream Machine was the first Mecabricks project where he included flex tubes, lamps and special transparent materials. The Dream Machine wasn’t the hardest build Buggyirk has done. This honor goes to a project that was a commission he did for charity. However, due to personal reasons, there are no photos on his Flicker gallery. The build had various obstacles that had to be surmounted, such as funding, project size, being restricted in parts selection, parts acquisition, build difficulty, working with a carpenter on a display case, presenting the model at an unveiling ceremony, and having to rebuild the model again after someone managed to break it while testing the limits of the display case. He reveals, “The entire project ended up taking a little over two years from inception to completion, and it has been my most fulfilling project to date.”
Buggyirk’s second hardest build was the Coraline Magical Garden that he has on LEGO Ideas now. He tried to design the set like an official LEGO set with many play functions. In addition to the play functions, it also has a complex gearing mechanism for raising and lowering the trees. He tells, “The garden not only had to be fun, it also had to look otherworldly and look like Coraline’s face from above. Balancing the scale, piece count, playability and aesthetics was very challenging. Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about the graphic design. My wife did an amazing job of that!” He also created a stop-motion video of the project to pay homage to the movie. He continues to explain, “I meticulously posed the digital model for each frame, rendered that frame, and moved on to the next one. This was done before Mecabricks offered any animation options. Some sequences were just moving the camera for each frame and others were animating the minifigures and praying mantis tractor.” He also wrote and produced music for the video too. This was a big deal for him since he hadn’t really written any music since he was ill. Also, he hadn’t written or produced music for one of his LEGO projects before. You can see the video on his Flickr gallery.
What’s in a Name? For his original builds, Buggyirk enjoys coming up with a fun madeup title that evokes a back story. Sometimes he also includes a little of that backstory in the description. Some examples can be found with these creations:
Prog and the Perptuam
Autoprod, the Protector of the Transport
The Powerful Secret Society of Steampunk Travelers: This is the headquarters of he Powerful Secret Society of Steampunk Travelers, or PSSST for short. Why would a secret society building stick out so much? Well, in the words of Sherlock Holmes, “It’s so overt it’s covert.” The building is three stories tall and features smokestacks, gears, pipes, lights, windows, doors, a flat roof to land the Zeppelin, and a telephone booth (sublevel secret entrance). Buggyirk designed the model and created the backstory—and the PSSST secret society don’t really exist... or do they?
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TERRA-FB 1 Spaceship Mech: Imagine a future where humans terraform Mars. How would we grow the plant life there? What would ‘bee’ the solution? The TERRA-FB 1 spaceship mech! While bees bring new life over great distances on Earth, the TERRA-FB 1 will bring new life to other worlds.
The Obstacles of Our Dream.
The only planning Buggyirk puts into builds after research is in the overall concept and scale. From there he starts building until the project is fully fleshed out. He isn’t always completely focused on one project at a time though. Sometimes he has multiple projects going on and just works on whatever inspires him in the moment. He believes, “It’s easy to get bogged down when I hit a wall in a build, so moving to another project gives me some time for my unconscious mind to work out a solution or for me to return to it with fresh eyes.” Buggyirk started building to occupy his mind when he couldn’t do much of anything else due to his health issues. Through his recovery, he has developed this new form of artistic expression that crosses so many disciplines like engineering, storytelling, graphic design, photography, photo editing, 3D design, rendering, and social media marketing. He proclaims, “2019 was the first year since 2011 that I felt like my health was coming back and I continue to make progress every day. LEGO has been a significant part of my whole recovery journey.” His next projects are LEGO Ideas projects, so he can only offer a clue to what they are: microscale builds. For builders, Buggyirk has this advice: “Each official LEGO set you build has so many techniques involved that you can adapt to your own builds. Try not to rush through the instructions to get it done as fast as possible. There is much to be learned in those little instruction books.”
You can see Buggyirk’s photos and videos at his Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr. com/photos/buggyirk/with/14111852814/ or you can scan the QR code below!
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HOLLY JOLLY
ALTER EGO #168
ALTER EGO #169
ALTER EGO #170
COMIC BOOK CREATOR #24
MARK VOGER’s sleigh ride thru Christmas pop culture! Explores movies (Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life), music (White Christmas, Little St. Nick), TV (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), books (Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol), decor (1950s silver aluminum trees), comics (super-heroes meet Santa), and more! Featuring CHARLES M. SCHULZ, ANDY WILLIAMS and others!
Two RICHARD ARNDT interviews revealing the wartime life of Aquaman artist/ co-creator PAUL NORRIS (with a Golden/ Silver Age art gallery)—plus the story of WILLIE ITO, who endured the WWII Japanese-American relocation centers to become a Disney & Warner Bros. animator and comics artist. Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT, JOHN BROOME, and more, behind a NORRIS cover!
Spotlight on Groovy GARY FRIEDRICH— co-creator of Marvel’s Ghost Rider! ROY THOMAS on their six-decade friendship, wife JEAN FRIEDRICH and nephew ROBERT HIGGERSOM on his later years, PETER NORMANTON on GF’s horror/ mystery comics, art by PLOOG, TRIMPE, ROMITA, THE SEVERINS, AYERS, et al.! FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT and Mr. Monster, and more! MIKE PLOOG cover!
JACK KIRBY is showcased cover-to-cover behind a never-before-printed Kirby cover! WILL MURRAY on Kirby’s contributions to the creation of Iron Man—FCA on his Captain Marvel/Mr. Scarlet Fawcett work—Kirby sections by MICHAEL T. GILBERT & PETER NORMANTON—Kirby in 1960s fanzines—STAN LEE’s colorful quotes about “The King”, and ROY THOMAS on being a Kirby fan (and foil)!
TIMOTHY TRUMAN discusses his start at the Kubert School, Grimjack with writer JOHN OSTRANDER, and current collaborations with son Benjamin. SCOTT SHAW! talks about early San Diego Comic-Cons and friendship with JACK KIRBY, Captain Carrot, and Flintstones work! Also PATRICK McDONNELL’s favorite MUTTS comic book pastiches, letterer JANICE CHIANG profiled, HEMBECK, and more! TIM TRUMAN cover.
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COMIC BOOK CREATOR #25 WORLD OF TWOMORROWS
BACK ISSUE #125
BACK ISSUE #126
BACK ISSUE #127
BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH discusses his new graphic novel MONSTERS, its origin as a 1980s Hulk story, and its evolution into his 300-page magnum opus (includes a gallery of outtakes). Plus part two of our SCOTT SHAW! interview about HannaBarbera licensing material and work with ROY THOMAS on Captain Carrot, KEN MEYER, JR. looks at the great fanzines of 40 years ago, HEMBECK, and more!
Celebrate our 25th anniversary with this retrospective by publisher JOHN MORROW and Comic Book Creator magazine’s JON B. COOKE! Go behind-the-scenes with MICHAEL EURY, ROY THOMAS, GEORGE KHOURY, and a host of other TwoMorrows contributors! Introduction by MARK EVANIER, Foreword by ALEX ROSS, Afterword by PAUL LEVITZ, and a new cover by TOM McWEENEY!
CREATOR-OWNED COMICS! Featuring indepth histories of MATT WAGNER’s Mage and Grendel. Plus other indie sensations of the Bronze Age, including COLLEEN DORAN’s A Distant Soil, STAN SAKAI’s Usagi Yojimbo, STEVE PURCELL’s Sam & Max, JAMES DEAN SMITH’s Boris the Bear, and LARRY WELZ’s Cherry Poptart! With a fabulous Grendel cover by MATT WAGNER.
“Legacy” issue! Wally West Flash, BRANDON ROUTH Superman interview, Harry Osborn/Green Goblin, Scott Lang/ Ant-Man, Infinity Inc., Reign of the Supermen, JOHN ROMITA SR. and JR. “Rough Stuff,” plus CONWAY, FRACTION, JURGENS, MESSNER-LOEBS, MICHELINIE, ORDWAY, SLOTT, ROY THOMAS, MARK WAID, and more. WIERINGO/MARZAN JR. cover!
“Soldiers” issue! Sgt. Rock revivals, General Thunderbolt Ross, Beetle Bailey in comics, DC’s Blitzkrieg, War is Hell’s John Kowalski, Atlas’ savage soldiers, The ’Nam, Nth the Ultimate Ninja, and CONWAY and GARCIA-LOPEZ’s Cinder and Ashe. Featuring CLAREMONT, DAVID, DIXON, GOLDEN, HAMA, KUBERT, LOEB, DON LOMAX, DOUG MURRAY, TUCCI, and more. BRIAN BOLLAND cover!
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TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History.
KIRBY COLLECTOR #79
See “THE BIG PICTURE” of how Kirby fits into the grand scheme of things! His creations’ lasting legacy, how his work fights illiteracy, a RARE KIRBY INTERVIEW, inconsistencies in his 1960s MARVEL WORK, editorial changes in his comics, big concepts in OMAC, best DOUBLE-PAGE SPREADS, MARK EVANIER’s 2019 Kirby Tribute Panel, PENCIL ART GALLERY, and a new cover based on OMAC #1! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!
OLD GODS & NEW: A FOURTH WORLD COMPANION (TJKC #80)
Looks back at JACK KIRBY’s own words, as well as those of assistants MARK EVANIER and STEVE SHERMAN, inker MIKE ROYER, and publisher CARMINE INFANTINO, to show how Kirby’s epic came about, where it was going, and how he would’ve ended it before it was cancelled by DC Comics! (160-page FULL-COLOR TPB) $26.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 • Ships March 2021 ISBN: 978-1-60549-098-4
KIRBY COLLECTOR #81
BRICKJOURNAL #67
“Kirby: Beta!” Jack’s experimental ideas, characters, and series (Fighting American, Jimmy Olsen, Kamandi, and others), Kirby interview, inspirations for his many “secret societies” (The Project, Habitat, Wakanda), non-superhero genres he explored, 2019 Heroes Con panel (with MARK EVANIER, MIKE ROYER, JIM AMASH, and RAND HOPPE), a pencil art gallery, UNUSED JIMMY OLSEN #141 COVER, and more!
Get an introduction to TOM GERARDIN’s LEGO best friends Billy and Charlie, tour Disneyland Paris’ Sleeping Beauty Castle in bricks with DARIO DEL FRATES, and visit more theme parks LEGO-style with BILL VOLLBRECHT! Plus: “AFOLs” by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, and more!
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Building Emerald Beryl.
Amethyst Geode.
Citrine Quartz. Iron Pyrite.
Rhodochrosite.
Dario Del Frate:
Crystallizing Ideas! Article and Renders by Dario Del Frate
Dario Del Frate is a builder that manages an engineering company in Madrid, Spain that operates worldwide. By education, he is a chemical engineer, a musician and a LEGO builder at heart. Recently, he submitted some models for a LEGO set in LEGO Ideas—a crystal set he calls Treasures of Earth: Reflections. What makes Dario’s builds interesting are the inventive building techniques used as well as some of the imagined parts he created for the set. While these parts may not exist now, if his Ideas set is approved, they may enter production. Dario’s beginnings with building were during childhood, but he outgrew it and had a Dark Age until 2009, when he got an unexpected Christmas gift from his mother: the Winter Toy Shop. He though the set was amazing. He then bought the Millennium Falcon and completely redesigned it. That was the moment he got hooked again, ending his Dark Ages. Building has been in his blood since he builds industrial plants for a living. For Dario, building is a very fascinating process seeing how an idea evolves from a 3D image to a building that can be photographed from space! LEGO building is a similar experience: he works to make his models real.
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For Dario, inspiration shows up everywhere, from real-life objects and buildings to sometimes a single piece or color. He loves pinks, light blues and transparent colors, which led him to build his Treasures of Earth collection.
There are other reasons that Dario had to build the crystals, as he states, “I guess minerals are amazing. Even if you are not a collector or into mineralogy, it’s difficult not to fall under the spell of their incredible shapes and colors. In my case, they also remind me of some happy childhood times. Since I love transparent bricks and micro builds (smaller buildings force you to think out of the box and I love that!), I thought I would have to give the minerals a try.” In building the crystals Dario went simple whenever he could. He didn’t use complex techniques if they weren’t necessary. For example, in the rhodochrosite, he could have built SNOT cubes, but he thought, “Why?” The cubes already looked gorgeous and the corners were exactly the way he wanted them, so why change them? Dario also has a lot of practice with SNOT and hinges and wired connections as he could apply them to achieve the best result whenever needed. Dario’s Ideas project is a build that has some parts that aren’t available, but for him, that was part of the idea of the set—letting the imagination fly and proposing something new. He recolored plenty of elements but always kept an eye on the result in case he had to use the elements available. In his opinion the crystals still look very charming but in a different way—more childlike—even without transparent bricks at all. He’s also working on a project update to show the set without those bricks. He would love to see at least some of the recolored bricks be used as part of his set, even though the LEGO Group may think otherwise. Out of the builds, Dario is very proud of a couple: The Geode was an especially complex build. It is built with SNOT all over, while maintaining some sort of spherical shape. He truly likes the way the geode is ‘broken’ as the edges are not on the same plane, creating a great effect that he loves. The rhodochrosite also fascinated him in the way the different planes of the cubes are achieved through simple but effective techniques: hinges and turntables.
Rhodochrosite model.
Another look at the model.
A mineral addition: tourmatine.
Citrine Quartz model.
A structural look inside the Citrine Quartz model. A look inside the Citrine Quartz model.
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Researching for a build requires photos and videos from wherever he can find them. The minerals in the Treasures of Earth set are all actual size replicas of authentic specimens found online. The rhodochrosite actually is based on a specimen from a very famous collection. After researching, Dario starts his building with LEGO Digital Designer. For him, LDD is the most ‘rigid’ building environment and the easiest to make perfect snaps (attachments). From there, tricky attachments are tried with real bricks and the model is adjusted accordingly. The model file then goes to Stud.io to adjust tolerances or allow ‘illegal’ joints, if needed. This is when the engineer in Dario comes out; his builds generally are very sturdy.
Amethyst Geode.
Amethyst Geode without transparent parts.
Amethyst Geode without transparent interior.
The model in chrome gold without tiles.
The model in pearl gold without tiles.
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The Iron Pyrite model in chrome gold with tiles.
Dario’s build motivations are simple: Building lets him get carried away and become a kid again. He can spend hours building, which is why he builds at night. He’s currently working on a new project that is something that is in line with the new LEGO art series that is completely different from anything Dario has previously made. So far, he totally loves it!
For builders, he offers this advice: “First, follow your imagination and put together some bricks. I would recommend using software simply because you get access to so many pieces! Once you have the general idea, go and streamline it, learn a little about brick geometry, and study the great builders online! The more you build, the more you will visualize the possible solutions each brick can offer!”
The treasures in the dark.
Aquamarine Beryl.
An inside look at the three different methods of construction in the Aquamarine Beryl. The middle core uses 1 x 6 tiles, while the others use 2 x 4 tiles. All of the treasures rendered with solid bricks.
You can vote for this Ideas set at: https:// ideas.lego.com/projects/91a8106f11ab-47df-a2f9-b8c5151ef5f4/official_ comments#content_nav_tabs or you can scan the QR code at the left!
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Building
Maxim Baybakov
Building a City 42
Eight years ago, Maxim Baybakov returned to LEGO building at the age of 28. He first built when he was 11 and entered his Dark Age at 15. Back then he was building Technic and Castle sets. This time, he returned to building when he found Technic sets with remote controls. Maxim wanted to motorize his 8880 car so much that he went to eBay to find motors. While that didn’t work out, he began building modular town and Castle sets.
About seven years ago, he stared building his own town. Initially using modular building sets, he began adding his own buildings: a railway station and a depot. It took a couple of years for him to take down the last LEGO modular building to make way for his own builds. He wanted to make his own city and made its motto: “Completely unique, although not so chic.” His city inspirations come from different sources, such as walking with his family around his native city (which is over 1100 years old), admiring its architecture, as well as other cities. He also looks at photos online and sometimes pausing cartoons and films to get screen shots of interesting moments. Sometimes it’s just an interesting LEGO part that creates an entire building in Maxim’s head. For his city, Maxim had some nearby inspirations. Everyday on his daily commute he passes by one building. His gaze always ended up at the building’s rounded balconies. Little by little, various options for connecting parts appeared in his head. To start this building, he began by constructing the balcony.
Inspiration...
...and creation.
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The balcony construction was the hardest part of this building. It was supposed to be rounded, holistic and contain three windows. To figure out the structure of the balcony, Maxim drew up sketches. To seal the gap between the three windows, he used a 1 x 6 tile. Attached under it is a minifigure hand that has a bladed claw accessory to keep the tile in place. This made a smooth divider between windows.
Using the ingots as a surface detail created another problem: how to attach them on a round shape. The solution was using flexible tube placed around a 4 x 4 round tile with two top studs. This track was then held in place with the studs and bricks with a modified 1 x 4 brick with groove holding the tube in place at the sides. The tubing is one of Maxim’s two favorite things about this build. The smoothness of the tubes are a nice counterbalance to the pattern of the ingots and windows.
The second thing is the perfect fit of the roof to the side wall. He wouldn’t call himself a perfectionist, but he’s pretty happy looking at the finished result!
Another construction problem was at the bottom of the balcony. The inverse 8 x 8 dish doesn’t fit perfectly on the 1 x 4 slope under it, but protruded slightly upward, forming a small stair. At the same time, the ingot/bar 1 x 2 is actually slightly smaller than a 1 x 2 plate/tile. It turns out the ingot and the dish compensate for each other. Another part, the neck bracket with Back Studs, makes it possible to secure the bottom of the balcony very well.
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Most of the time, Maxim starts his construction at a certain part of a building and adjusts the rest to fit as he goes. Sometimes, he starts with a ready-made sketch, like what he did with his creation Rainbow. Even at the design stage he looks at the parts availability in desired colors both at hand and at stores. The biggest disappointment he has is when he has built a model in his head, but the colors aren’t available. If the parts aren’t available, it can take a couple of months to complete a building—with most of the time waiting for parts. When asked about why he builds, Maxim doesn’t have an answer. He hadn’t really thought of it. Maybe it’s because he’s curious to see what something in real life looks like in LEGO bricks. Or perhaps it’s because he enjoys the sense of accomplishment when he looks at the results of his building and thinks, “Yes, this is it.”
An interior vignette.
Looking out from the barber shop to the street.
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The upper window and balcony railing assembly can be seen here. What isn’t shown is the flexible tubing used for the railing. The upper half of the window is also built upside-down and held in place with a 1 x 1 brick with Stud on one side.
The completed bay window and balcony. A draft bay, using handcuffs for decoration.
A look at the balcony floor.
The barber shop’s lower floor windows and door, showing the custom stickers made for the model.
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One of the next projects Maxim is working on is another building. Like his barbershop, he built it on a 16-stud by 32-stud baseplate. This size makes it easier for him to move around buildings in his city. This time, the idea for this building came from one single part: the 1 x 4 Paled (Picket) Fence, which he saw as a new item in a local Bricklink store. Maxim drew a couple of variants, and then built the facade completely upside-down. He has some practical and philosophical advice for fellow builders. When he builds his buildings, he works on the exteriors, as the interiors won’t be seen. He also doesn’t build side walls—he does this to save on parts. Online, he shows his techniques for building. For builders, he offers this: “Build as much as possible in different themes. Try different types of connections. And go beyond the inner boundaries that limit creativity.”
The Rainbow.
The window design for Maxim’s new building.
One last look at the balcony.
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Building
Kyle Sezawich’s
Apollo Era Complex 39 Article and Art by Kyle Sezawich
VAB Complex Dimensions
Total number of pieces: 133473 Length: 100.8 inches wide Width: 141.1 inches Height: 61 inches tall
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The Saturn V Ideas set (which is about to be re-issued) is designed to a different scale than the LEGO system: 1:110 scale (1 foot equals 110 scale feet). This makes the set a microscale vehicle. There have been sets that have been designed and built to complement the rocket, including a model of the Launch Umbilical Tower by Joe Chambers that was featured in BrickJournal #60. Until now, there hasn’t been a design for the structures used to build the rocket itself. This changed in 2020, when builder Kyle Sezawich began building the construction facilities behind the Saturn rockets, including the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and the Launch Control Center (LCC). Tourists can now visit the site at Kennedy Space Center, but Kyle built it in LEGO brick form. Kyle, a carpenter by trade, has been building for about 20 years, but has been in and out of the hobby. He returned to building for the first time when he got out of the US Army in 2010. Building was a type of therapy to help him get back into the swing of civilian life. However, it got too expensive and he quit building. He returned a second time when his family bought him the Saturn V Ideas set as a Christmas present in 2018. The set fit right with Kyle’s favorite themes: Space and Architecture. His favorite LEGO sets extend into the Expert and Ideas themes. Kyle’s inspiration to build beyond sets came from Valerie Roché (one of the designers of the LEGO Saturn V set), Joe Chambers, and Caleigh, his girlfriend. Roché’s Saturn V design led to Kyle finding Joe’s Launch Umbilical Tower (LUT) and crawler designs. Joe’s LUT blew Kyle away with the amount of detail that was in the build and the different versions Joe made for the different Apollo missions. Caleigh was the one that got Kyle back into building and is the one person that encouraged him to start and keep working on this project from the beginning.
A peek at the interior detail of the Vehicle Assembly Building.
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Vehicle Assembly Building
Total number of pieces: 119,290 Length: 90.7 inches Width: 60.9 inches Height: 60.5 inches Launch Control Center Utility Annex Building
Total number of pieces: 3927 Length: 30.2 inches Width: 40.9 inches Height: 5.9 inches
Total number of pieces: 10246 Length: 55.5 inches Width: 48.8 inches Height: 9.6 inches
The complex in parts and inches.
Building the VAB was inspired not only by other models, but by a Facebook page. After seeing the details in Joe Chamber’s LUT, Kyle stumbled across a Facebook group online: Bricks in Space. There, he saw Sam Bradford’s build of Launch Pad LC-39A, which was built in the same scale as the Saturn V and LUT. Seeing all of these got Kyle thinking about building something that had not been built before and yet offered a little bit of a challenge. Everyone else was building rockets and after looking around, Kyle noticed that no one at the time had built a 1:110 VAB. That actually shocked him a little—with all the builds that were being done, how could it be that no one had built the most iconic building at NASA? He started building, not caring about the size or cost—he just wanted to create something on the same scale as the Saturn V and the other models built for it. Kyle began researching the VAB in February of 2019. He researched for about six months until he felt he had enough accurate dimensions to start scaling down, converting those measurements to metric and checking what LEGO pieces to use. The scaling and selection took another three months, and by December of 2019, he had designed a digital mock-up (on Stud.io, a building program developed by Bricklink) for the steel structure of the VAB. Nearly a year later, he completed the main structure and steel. His current efforts are devoted to working on the internal details: elevators, cranes, and working platforms. He’s hoping that at least the Apollo era design will be complete by the end of 2020. As everything so far has been built and rendered digitally in Stud.io, Kyle has only been
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Looking down at the Saturn V from inside the VAB.
starting to gather elements, and building each step of the model. For the VAB, Kyle’s work was already on paper. He used copies of actual blueprints, photos, and books that he found through research and the many colleagues he has met along the way who gave him thorough information on the entire design of the VAB. With the size of the VAB, it would be easy to believe that this is the only project Kyle is working on, but there is a lot more work to do. There are three versions of the VAB that he is working on: the Apollo Era, Pre-1998 Shuttle, and Post 1998 Shuttle Era. All of these will be designed and have instructions available. The current version is the Space Launch System (SLS) VAB, which Kyle is holding from working on until an updated Mobile Launch Tower has been designed by NASA. His final version will be the Architectural Vision with the VAB having six High Bays, as it was originally proposed. A departure from building the VAB was a 1:110 model of the Sea Dragon rocket that was proposed before the Saturn V. Kyle built this to see the relative difference in size compared to the later rocket.
Looking from the ground level of the Launch Control Center to the crawler.
The Saturn V at the entrance bay to the VAB.
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The VAB in Bicentennial livery.
The VAB in present-day livery.
The low bay annex of the VAB. If you look at the right at the open bay, you’ll see a microfigure for scale.
For advice, Kyle offers the following to fellow builders: “Do the research behind your build and ask questions, even if they are dumb ones. There are plenty of resources available, often in the most surprising places. “Join a Facebook group that is related to your build. “Don’t get frustrated. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself when the your project becomes discouraging. If you are stuck, don’t hesitate to ask for help. There are tons of building techniques available, so if one way doesn’t work, try another. “Take breaks and take your time.” For digital builders: I”f you’re doing a large-scale build, like the VAB, make sure you have a computer that is able to handle it. “Save your progress frequently. I can’t tell you how many designs were lost because of a program crash. “Those of you using Stud.io for larger builds should break down their builds into smaller sections and create submodels. This will help you in the future when you go to render or to make instructions.”
The interior of the VAB.
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You Can Build It MINI Build
Parts List (Parts can be ordered from Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color)
Main Body
Qty Color Part 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 99781.dat 4 Light-Bluish-Gray 87087.dat 4 Light-Bluish-Gray 30236.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 11211.dat 3 1 1 4 4 1 2 1 1
Zeta-Class Shuttle Design and Instructions by Christopher Deck Hello everybody and welcome back to another fantastic building session! We want to begin the new year with a new starship design introduced in the first Star Wars spin-off movie: Rogue One. The Zeta-class shuttle is a type of cargo transport with foldable wings. When the wings are in flight position, it almost looks like an ancient marine dinosaur. The wings are also the most difficult detail to design for this model. They are not simple planar wings, instead they are additionally angled towards the main hull. To make the wings fully functional, the angled wing connectors to the hull have been attached by sticky clicky hinges, whereas the complete combination uses smooth running hinge clips to easily fold up and down. The shuttle also features a working ramp and a detachable cargo container. It is, however, not recommended to drop the cargo during flight, especially when you are on a smuggling tour for the Hutts. I wish you happy building and see you next time!
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Light-Bluish-Gray 30414.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3006.dat Dark-Bluish-Gray 2335.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3024.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 2540.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3710.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3022.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 99206.dat
2 Light-Bluish-Gray 3020.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 6576.dat 4 Light-Bluish-Gray 54200.dat 2 Trans-Black 54200.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 85984.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3660.dat 1 Trans-Light-Blue 2412b.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 2432.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 2431.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 50373.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 43723.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 43722.dat
Cargo Pod Qty Color 4 Orange 3 Orange
Part 3002.dat 3794a.dat
6 2
3069b.dat 63864.dat
Orange Orange
Wings
Qty Color Part 8 Light-Bluish-Gray 60471.dat 8
Light-Bluish-Gray 92582.dat
4
Light-Bluish-Gray 11476.dat
4 2 2 2 2 2
Light-Bluish-Gray 32028.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3460.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 4162.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 87079.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 50305.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 50304.dat
Description Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Down Brick 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side Brick 1 x 2 with Handle Brick 1 x 2 with Two Studs on One Side Brick 1 x 4 with Studs on Side Brick 2 x 10 Flag 2 x 2 Plate 1 x 1 Plate 1 x 2 Plate 1 x 2 with Handle Plate 1 x 4 Plate 2 x 2 Plate 2 x 2 x 0.667 with Two Studs On Side and Two Raised Plate 2 x 4 Plate 4 x 8 with Studs in Centre Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 Slope Brick 31 1 x 2 x 0.667 Slope Brick 45 2 x 2 Inverted Tile 1 x 2 Grille with Groove Tile 1 x 2 with Handle Tile 1 x 4 with Groove Wedge 3 x 4 with Stud Notches Wing 2 x 3 Left Wing 2 x 3 Right Description Brick 2 x 3 Plate 1 x 2 without Groove with 1 Centre Stud Tile 1 x 2 with Groove Tile 1 x 3 with Groove Description Hinge Plate 1 x 2 Locking with Dual Finger on Side Hinge Plate 2 x 2 Locking with Single Finger On Top Plate 1 x 2 with Clip Horizontal on Side (Thick C-Clip) Plate 1 x 2 with Door Rail Plate 1 x 8 Tile 1 x 8 Tile 2 x 4 with Groove Wing 3 x 8 Left Wing 3 x 8 Right
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Building Minifig Customization 101:
Hoo Hoo! Article and Photography by Jared Burks Okay, anyone figuring out today’s article by the title has too much extra mental capacity or insane recall of song lyrics. Honestly, there must be a title and I try to make them interesting, so I hoped this, as in my last article, got a song stuck in your head. Inspector Gadget began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series. Since the original series there have been many spin-offs based on the show and its characters in the animated genre, video games, and live-action films. For those who have not been exposed to Inspector Gadget, please visit Netflix or YouTube! The series follows the adventures of a dimwitted, but quite powerful cyborg police inspector named Gadget. Gadget’s primary purpose is to investigate the criminal enterprises of Dr. Claw and his M.A.D. (Mean And Dirty) organization. What is unknown to both Claw/ M.A.D. and Gadget himself is that Gadget’s own niece Penny, and her dog, Brain, are the ones who make the inspector successful at stopping all of M.A.D.’s evil plans.
Animation art of Inspector Gadget. Inspector Gadget TM & © WildBrain Ltd.
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He is based on his predecessors, Get Smart’s Maxwell Smart, The Pink Panther’s Inspector Clouseau, and the Andy Griffith Show’s Barney Fife, and I am sure many other bumbling comedic fictitious law enforcement officers. He bears the most resemblance to a cross between Maxwell Smart and Inspector Clouseau of Pink Panther fame; in my mind leaning primarily on Maxwell Smart. Recall Maxwell Smart was fighting against KAOS and while he wasn’t a cyborg, he used plenty of gadgets from a shoe phone to a cone of silence. Couple this with the fact that Smart and Gadget were brought to life by the same actor, Don Adams. Don Adams portrayed both Maxwell Smart in the Get Smart TV series and is the original voice of Inspector Gadget from the premiere in 1983 until 1999 when he retired.
The character of Inspector Gadget is a diverse one given his outfit is so basic; this is due to his cyborg side and the myriad of gadgets contained inside his body. At his heart Inspector Gadget wears black shoes, blue pants, a grey trenchcoat (in the cartoons anyway), and a very unique hat that has been drawn in many different styles over the years. Gadget also features a unique “hat head” hair style and has a very long and broad nose. With all that said, Go-Go-Gadget Custom LEGO Minifigure!
Concept model for minifigure Gadget.
Hat Creation Given that the hat is so unique and specific to the character, I started with this piece first. Recalling back many years in the customizing community, we used to alter the LEGO Pith Helmet into the floppy cap that Luke wore on Tatooine. This was a very simply mod where the pitch of the Pith Helmet is sanded down to create a flat top. From there we used the Pith striations to place two dimples that would allow for the attachment of LEGO goggles—again, a throwback to the classic Luke. For those a bit more brave, a bit of heat could be applied through a heat gun/hair drier and the brim could be shaped into a floppy style that more closely resembled the look in the films. As such, I figured this would also work for Gadget. To create this hat we simply used sandpaper and we always worked to get this top of the hat as low as possible without sanding all the way through, which was a delicate challenge. Luckily for Gadget we desired a hole in the top, which I will explain shortly, but I was able to sand down significantly further than I would have for the Tatooine hat. I had to perform a few other mods on this hat as Gadget’s does not have the striations, so those were sanded away, as was the back extended dip in the brim. I started with a white Pith Helmet because I knew it would need to be painted, because the Pith is not available in Light Bluish Grey and that is the color of Gadget’s hat. If I was to paint these objects, I thought it better that one paint was used for all to get them to colormatch. After using a filling primer, I painted the hat light grey and added a piece of tape I painted dark grey for the hat band (I actually forgot to add this detail!). This serves two purposes: it creates the band and makes it raised, and it brings in the other color needed without having to mask off a challenging and small item to merely paint the band.
Modifying the helmet.
Minifigure pith helmet.
Luke Skywaler’s cap, along with minifigure (inset). © Lucasfilm.
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Hat Accessory 1: Red Flasher Police Hat Light The first accessory and easiest is the rotating police beacon light. This was easily created by using a trans-red Bar with Light Cover (Bulb) element 58176. This plugs directly into the head stud and is long enough for the perfect amount of visibility with the newly created/modified Pith helmet.
Hat Accessory 2: Three Extra Helping Hands
Testing the red flasher.
Arm inspiration.
Painting the joints. Test hand set.
Hat test.
3D printed arms.
From the hat I had a bit of good luck. I was trying to work out the attachment of the robotic extra arms and accessories that pop out of Gadget’s hat/head. I was looking for items that were in the LEGOverse that would look familiar that I could reuse for this purpose, and my eyes locked onto the newish plant flower stem with bottom pin element 24855. This allows for three connections—a common number of arms coming out of Gadget’s head—and it plugs directly into the head stud of his head. The only issue is it’s green. As I have shown in other articles, one can use LEOCad to get object files, which can be converted for 3D printing, and this is the route taken here; this way I can also print it in grey. Now I needed to create the other armature pieces. Using the flower stem as the model and referring to the Gadget Reference, it appears the joints are small red balls. This made creating the parts easy in Fusion 360. I measured and created singular stems and ball joints for them to plug into. I clearly forgot about the shrinkage, so for this project I had to use them with a touch of superglue, but will reprint at a later date to give them more maneuverability. There are three segments to each of his helping hands, so two ball joints per arm. The final segment requires a LEGO hand at the end and again to LEOCad for the part. I printed the pieces and performed a bit of glue-up assembly to lock them in place; when I reprint, I do want them to rotate into different configurations, which will likely require a slightly larger ball part. Deadlines require certain options on the prototype figures. Attaching the arms.
Hat Accessory 3: Gadget Copter Given that I had worked out the flower stem attachment, I merely needed to modify this in three ways, first to remove the stems, second to attach arms for Gadget to hold onto, and third to design the rotor system. I knew incorporating LEGO elements or even the design of LEGO elements would make this more successful, so I started looking through my parts and found this perfect 3 propeller 9 stud diameter LEGO element 30332 in reddish brown. I would have preferred red, but I can work with the reddish brown for now. This left me with one simple issue: how to connect this propeller to the base of the flower stem? The Technic, Pin 1/2 with 2L Bar Extension (Flick Missile) element 61184 made the perfect connection and allows for some top customizations. At the moment I merely capped the top using a round 1x1 tile element 98138, however I could combine the Red Flasher solution with this to give the helicopter a flashing light on top. By incorporating the LEGO elements, I extend the play and customization options, something I am very proud of on my solution for this figure.
Inspiration parts for the copter. Copter test fit.
Test fit with 3D printed parts.
Test fit with final parts.
Hat Accessory 4: Hair Now that I have his hat and the various hat accessories, I need his hair. This was simple and what I had figured out first, what amazed me, was how well it fit with the hat. I started looking at hair that gave that hat hair look and found that the minifigure female hair that is described as short swept sideways element 20877 worked well. I think of this hair as Black Widow Hair, but it was also used for Eleven from Stranger Things and Captain Marvel from the Avengers. By sanding this down I got to the ring of curved out locks that replicated Inspector Gadget’s hair and lined that up with the hat and found a near perfect union between the two. Gadget does have large ears and I debated modifying for those, but ultimately decided against it. You can get overly complicated with a figure, and I find the simplicity works best.
Hairpiece for the hat.
Gadget Trench Coat Gadget is also known for his trench coat. It isn’t completely floor length and, in some versions, it is barely past the waist. I decided to keep it somewhere in-between and I used some old printable cloth I had laying around. When I say old, I mean 15 years old. It is paper backed cloth sheets from Jacquard. The cloth is very thin and seems to fray, so I had to come up with solutions for that as well as the fact that the back would be white. As I wanted fold down lapels, the back would show. I worked out a pattern and tried several paper versions. What I
Trench coat material and printed sample (below).
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Watered-down Elmers glue for cloth coating.
learned is the paper pattern needs to be slightly larger than the cloth because cloth can stretch, and paper can’t. Get your fit correct. I added the belt and a few other details, but again kept the design very simple. I printed this out and peeled it from the backing after trimming it, which was a mistake. I should have left it in a large piece of cloth until I treated it for the fraying. We learn something all the time. Once I had trimmed it out, I watered down Elmer’s white school glue and painted it on the surface of the cloth that I had printed. I had the cloth on a glazed tile, because the glue won’t stick to the tile! The glue helped stiffen the cloth and stopped the fraying. Once it was dry, I flipped it over and spray-painted the back with the same grey I used on the hat. This also helped stiffen the piece and further helped with any possible fraying. All these steps would have been easier if the cloth piece had been larger. I then used a leather punch to create the arm holes and wrapped it around a spare torso. I used a spare torso as I used super glue to glue the coat closed. After about 30 seconds I removed the arms and the coat from the torso and I set it aside for now.
Trenchcoat on tile for drying.
Decal designs for the face.
Trenchcoats ready to use and on the figure.
Gadget Decals: Shirt and Face This is by far the most configurations and accessories I have ever built for one accessory. I think they all work well though. Now his head is nearly complete, merely missing a face and torso designs. Gadget wears a white collared shirt with a blue tie that is visible at the neck of the trenchcoat. I had previously designed a similar shirt for another purpose, so I attached one of those decals to the white torso. I then used blue legs and light bluish grey arms and assembled the Gadget body. Clearly all is now together outside of the face, and this is where I find myself stuck: to add the nose or not? Very few LEGO figures actually have a nose. Most of the ones that sport a nose look a touch odd. While drawing the face I decided he needs a nose. His face is very long and without a nose it looked out of proportion. I used a LEGO Sponge Bob character as inspiration.
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Decals applied.
The finished results.
The final bit was to take the accessorizing to the next level. Each of the helping hands needs an object, typically a magnifying glass, a camera, a badge, or flashlight adorning the hands. I gathered a few of these and as I further tweak this figure, I may create the badge, but for now, I settled on a magnifying glass, police baton, and a camera. This completed the figure for now. I may eventually further customize his helping hands to paint or color the hands and tweak their design, but I am happy with how the figure has turned out. I do worry about Gadget a bit as I haven’t created a Penny or Brain figure to help keep him safe, so I worry Dr. Claw and his cat may get the better of him. Perhaps they could be created next. Oh, the possibilities in the world of Inspector Gadget. I hope this has brought back happy memories and taught you about the possibilities behind customizing a LEGO minifigure. Until next time, WOWSERS! You can view Jared’s webpage by going to www.fineclonier.com or scanning this QR code!
Come back next issue for more Minifigure Customization! 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).
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Bantha Bricks Files
Bantha Bricks Files: Kirk Haksever’s
Rogue Shadow Article by Steven Smyth, Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Photography by Kirk Haksever
Galactic greetings! I’m Steven Smyth from Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars. Since the community’s founding in 2016, on an almost daily basis, I have witnessed amazing and creative Star Wars builds in the best Star Wars themed building brick group on Facebook. Kirk Haksever is a very popular MOC builder in the community and has won several of our group contests. I thought it would be great to learn more about this skilled builder and his minifigure scale Rogue Shadow from the Force Unleashed video game that simply made my jaw drop to the ground.
the mid 1980s until the sacred year of 1999 when all of us Star Wars and LEGO fans around the world collectively used our Jedi powers to persuade TLG into doing Star Wars LEGO sets. Would you say Star Wars is your favorite theme? Or do you have a surprise theme for us? I’m afraid that I’m just a plain old Star Wars LEGO fan, although I have bought many random themes over the years, but only for spare parts to use in Star Wars MOCs. Why do you choose the LEGO brick as your medium to express yourself? I look at it like this: everything around us in the modern world is made with parts and components anyway. The challenge and enjoyment in recreating those things or whatever we imagine, by using parts and components of LEGO amazed me when I was four, still gives me much enjoyment today. There is almost no limit to what you can do, and I love the fact that LEGO bricks have been used to build everything out there, from a hotdog stand to a volcano, and of course, Star Wars spaceships! Size comparison to the LEGO set Your latest build of the minifigure scale Rogue Shadow from the Force Unleashed had everyone going bananas; what inspired you to build that particular ship?
and Kirk’s model.
I loved the style of that ship from the first moment that I saw it, and I’ll let you in on a little secret now: I have never even played the Force Unleashed game! I first saw the Rogue Shadow when LEGO released their version of it and I’ve always liked the idea of asymmetrical starships. After searching online for pictures of the actual ship from the game, I knew that I wanted to build one, although it was many years until I decided to stop thinking about it and just get started with the build. Side view.
Steven Smyth: How’s it going Kirk? I’ve known you for years now through the Facebook group and everyone in Bantha Bricks has been amazed by your many wonderful Star Wars brick builds, but for the uninitiated, please introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you do. Kirk Haksever: Hi and thanks very much Steven! Well, I am a real estate company director from the UK, currently living in North Cyprus and married with two padawans. I have been a Star Wars fan since the first film in the 1970s and a LEGO fan from whenever it was that I first put two bricks together. I took a break in
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Some views of the rear of the shoulders and head.
Can you tell us a bit about the construction, and any special techniques you used? The whole thing is built on a Technic “sandwich” as a base, just a huge layer of plates, with lots of interconnected Technic bricks on top and then another layer of plates on top of that. It is a heavy and parts intensive method, but it was the only way that I could keep this uneven ship strong enough to carry without any bending or drooping. Structural integrity was an important factor from the start and the ship hull is split into two differently sized halves almost the whole way down, so keeping them level was a must. As far as special techniques, I used many building methods, but having the roof sections open like a car hood, and propped up with rods, was something that I knew I would do before I started building it. What are your favorite design elements you created for the Rogue Shadow? On a technical level, the rear thruster and double wing assembly was the hardest for me. Getting the two angled wings to attach to the center of a circular engine and have them able to rotate no more than 90 degrees, without drooping, was very challenging for me, and I am pleased with that part. If we are talking about fun parts of the build, my inner child went wild whilst completing the interior! Ideas for the Training Room, engine parts and Sith Focus Chamber were constantly going through my head whilst doing all of the structural work in the early stages. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the internal décor at the end.
The Rogue Shadow opened up.
How did you know or figure out how to build such an amazing and seemingly accurate interior?
Looking down at the cockpit.
Luckily I found a basic floorplan of the ship online. I’ve never been able to confirm if it is an official plan or a fan idea. I mostly followed that layout, although only a few rooms were labelled on the floorplan, so I had a bit of freedom with the unlabeled areas. Did you freestyle build the Rogue Shadow or did you use a computer design program to lay it out first? I’ve always freestyle built with LEGO. In fact, I have only very recently taught myself how to use the Stud.io program, because I’ve had so many requests for instructions for my builds over the last few years. It just felt wrong having to refuse, and I felt bad for saying no all the time! You stated you just recently started using the Stud.io program; how did that come about? A series of YouTube videos from Playwell Bricks have been a great help at the start of my digital design experience and I’d recommend viewing those to any other Stud.io beginners. Were there any moments in this build where you felt like, “Aww man, I’m stuck!” If so, how did you overcome that obstacle? Oh yes, many, many such moments! One struggle that I remember was on the parallelogram-shaped roof sections near the front, which are attached by Technic beams to lift up and over. I just could not find a way to close the gaps nicely using all wedge plates. I eventually solved it by using the good old SNOT technique with sloped bricks along one side of each section, which gave the correct angles that I needed.
Looking at the cockpit (top center) from the front
What would be your advice to anyone looking to build a minifigure scale Star Wars ship on their own? With minifigure scale spaceships, unless it’s a one-person starfighter, internal space is always the issue for me. How to make that space and get the external proportions and scale of the ship looking right, whilst keeping the ship from falling to bits when swooshed around (yeah, we all do it!) is the real challenge. Think long about the shape of what you want to build and where the trouble spots might be before you start. I usually spend a long time just sitting and staring into space or studying pictures of the ship before I even touch a brick. Once I start, I usually begin with whichever part of the ship I think might be the hardest, just so that I can get that issue out of the way. There is always lots of building and re-building and it can be frustrating taking apart whole sections that you spent ages on. I guess that would be an advantage of designing digitally, but I find that it just adds to the satisfaction when you complete the build. The crew of the Rogue Shadow (from left to right) PROXY, Galen Marek (or Starkiller), and Captain Juno Eclipse.
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rogue shadow
ROGUE SHADOW DECK PLAN
Medical Bay
Crew Quarters
Washroom
Armory
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Workshop
Lounge
Do you have instructions available for people to follow along and build the amazing things you design? If you do, how would our readers go about finding these?
Focus Chamber
I am still relatively new to digital designs, so I’ve recently recreated three of my smaller fun builds with Stud.io: X-mas Wing Fighter, The Gonks of Ren and Micro Coruscant Speeder Chase. I will be sharing the instructions for those for free on Rebrickable very soon. I’m simply doing that so that people who do not know of me can check me out before buying any of my future designs. I have also completed instructions for The Havoc from the old Star Wars Starfighter games, which I will, hopefully, be selling for a small fee. Then I will finally get started on instructions for the Rogue Shadow. I am Evilkirklego on Instagram, or Evilkirk on Flickr, if anyone wants to see pictures of my other builds. Any final ideas or thoughts you would like to add? I would just like to say a massive thanks for keeping such an awesome Facebook group alive for all of these years, and all of the good community work you guys do there. The positive feedback and responses that I have received from everyone in the group has always been fantastic!
Training Room
To see more amazing builds, cool contests and giveaways and family-friendly discussion about everything Star Wars brick, check out the Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Facebook group at: http://www.facebook.com/groups/starwarsLEGOgroup or banthabricks.com or scan the QR code here! Kirk with the Rogue Shadow.
Stygium Crystal
Engine Room
Entrance
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WHATEVER YOU’RE INTO, BUILD IT WITH
BOOKS & BACK ISSUES!
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NEW
BRICKJOURNAL #65
BRICKJOURNAL #64
BRICKJOURNAL #63
BRICKJOURNAL #62
BRICKJOURNAL #61
BrickJournal celebrates the holidays with acclaimed brick sculptor ZIO CHAO, takes a offbeat look at Christmas with our minifigure customizer/columnist JARED K. BURKS, and decks the halls with the holiday creations of KOEN ZWANENBURG! Plus: “AFOLs” by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and more!
Classic LEGO themes re-imagined! PIET NIEDERHAUSEN’s creations based on the Classic Yellow Castle, CHRIS GIDDENS (originator of Neo-Classic Space theme), and tour the Masterpiece Gallery at Denmark’s LEGO House! Plus: “Bricks in the Middle” by HINKLE and KAY, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!
UNDERSEA LEGO BUILDING! RYAN VAN DUZOR’s Coral Reef, the many creations of COLIN HEMMEN’s Brickiverse, plus a look at JOHN KLAPHEKE’s scenes from the Indiana Jones movies! Also: “AFOLs” by GREG HYLAND, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!
LEGO TRAINS! CALE LEIPHART’s Blue Comet, GLENN HOLLAND introduces us to the L-Gauge Modular Building Standard, a look at PennLUG’s Train Roundhouse, and many other train-related surprises! Plus a “Bricks in the Middle” comic by KEVIN HINKLE, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!
LEGO FIGURE BUILDING! JAE WON LEE’s historical and legendary characters, EERO OKKONEN’s stunning mythic figures, ANDREA (“Norton74”) LATTANZIO’s new ultra-realistic builds (including classic food stands and gas stations), “AFOLs” by GREG HYLAND, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Dec. 2020
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(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
BRICKJOURNAL #60
BRICKJOURNAL #59
BRICKJOURNAL #58
BRICKJOURNAL #57
BRICKJOURNAL #56
MYSTERIOUS, SPOOKY LEGO BUILDING! FLYNN DeMARCO’s motorized Treasure of the Snake Queen, Laika’s MISSING LINK by HOLLY WEBSTER, STACY STERLING’s HAUNTED MANSION, “AFOLs” by GREG HYLAND, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!
STAR WARSTM THEMED BUILDERS! Travel to a galaxy far, far away with JACOB NEIL CARPENTER’S DEATH STAR, the galactic work of MIRI DUDAS, and the LEGO® Star Wars-inspired photography of JAMES PHILIPPART! Plus “You Can Build It” instructions, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!
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!
MICROSCALE LEGO BUILDING! Tour WAYNE TYLER’S National Mall (Washington, DC) layout, skyscrapers from ROCCO BUTTLIERE, BLAKE FOSTER’s Ugly Duckling spaceship, step-by-step “You Can Build It” LEGO instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art with TOMMY WILLIAMSON, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!
LIFE-SIZE LEGO and what it takes to build them (besides a ton of LEGO brick)! HELEN SHAM’s sculptures of giant everyday items, MAGNUS LAUGHLO’s GI Joe®-inspired models, military builds by ERIC ONG, plus “Bricks In The Middle” comic by KEVIN HINKLE, “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifig Customization by JARED K. BURKS, & more!
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
BRICKJOURNAL #55
BRICKJOURNAL #54
BRICKJOURNAL #53
BRICKJOURNAL #52
BRICKJOURNAL #51
LEGO HEADS & TAILS: FELIX JAENSCH’s remarkable LEGO sculptures, from realistic animals to the human skull and amazing face masks! BRYAN BENSON’s detailed Kermorvan Lighthouse and how he built it from LEGO bricks. A spectacular Winter layout by DAVE SCHEFCIK! Plus: Minifigure customizing, step-by-step instructions, BrickNerd, & more!
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY: HSINWEI CHI and his revolutionary LEGO animals and giant robots! We also declassify other top LEGO builders’ creations, including MICHAEL BROWN’s Technic-scale F-18 Hornet! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
TYLER CLITES and SEAN MAYO show you LEGO hacks to twink and juice your creations! Also, see big bad game-inspired models by BARON VON BRUNK, and Pokemon-inspired models by LI LI! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
Russian builder TIMOFEY TKACHEV, plus what it takes to become a LEGO Certified Professional (an elite group of builders officially recognized by LEGO), with New York’s SEAN KENNEY and Australian RYAN McNAUGHT! Also: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
STEAMPUNK, with builder GUY HIMBER! PAUL HETHERINGTON talks about his cover model “Unchain My Heart,” ROD GILLIES’ latest Steampunk work, and a look at the creations of other top Steampunk builders! Plus: Minifigure customizing from JARED K. BURKS’, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, & more!
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
BACK ISSUES: $8.95 PRINT, $4.99 DIGITAL • US SHIPPING: $1 EACH
TRAINS
BRICKJOURNAL #24
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!
MECHA
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 #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!
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!
GAMING
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 #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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
STAR WARS™
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 & MICROSCALE
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!
OUTER SPACE & UNDERSEA
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!
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!
DINOSAURS
TwoMorrows TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 USA 919-449-0344 E-mail:
store@twomorrows.com
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!
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!
Order online at twomorrows.com
LEGO®, the Minifigure, and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the LEGO Group of Companies. BrickJournal is not affiliated with The LEGO Group. All characters shown are TM & © their respective owners.
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STAR WARS #7
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Artwork will be a black & white ink drawing on 11”x17” comic book illustration board. Art will include paste-up cover copy, logos, and trade dress. Email greg@lethargiclad.com for |NCREDIBLE HULK #181 information on pricing and timeframe.
Last Word And it’s 2021! I hope this year improves over the last... At this time, I should be in New York City attending Toy Fair and seeing new LEGO sets and other toys and collectibles from all over the world. This year, I’m pretty sure it won’t happen except as a virtual event. If so, it won’t be as much fun. It’s hard to replace the routine (get up early, trudge in ice, cold rain, or snow to Javits Convention Center, and spend the rest of the day walking the halls and looking for interesting toys) with clicking and looking at a screen. There’s so much more that is going on during that weekend.
Yeah, as Jonas Kramm noted, that’s a bad place to hide!
What used to be meetings has become online chats and videos, and what used to be conventions has become virtual gatherings. There’s some good things about online conventions—now a person can attend from anywhere in the world! The only limitation is the time zone. There are no flights or hotel rooms or packing to deal with. Just click, pay, and go! And a person in a Zoom session can talk directly to a presenter—that’s not a guaranteed thing in a speaking hall. We can do this, but what we lose is running into old and new friends. And I miss that. I hope we all get to meet this year. That Joe Meno Guy
79
by Kevin A. Hinkle & Matthew Kay
80
RetroFan: The Pop Culture You Grew Up With! If you love Pop Culture of the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, editor MICHAEL EURY’s latest magazine is just for you!
RETROFAN #11
HALLOWEEN ISSUE! Interviews with DARK SHADOWS’ Quentin Collins, DAVID SELBY, and the niece of movie Frankenstein GLENN STRANGE, JULIE ANN REAMS. Plus: KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER, ROD SERLING retrospective, CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST, TV’s Adventures of Superman, Superman’s pal JIMMY OLSEN, QUISP and QUAKE cereals, the DRAK PAK AND THE MONSTER SQUAD, scratch model customs, and more fun, fab features! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!
RETROFAN #6
RETROFAN #7
RETROFAN #12
Hollywood interviewer CHRIS MANN goes behind the scenes of TV’s sexy sitcom THREE’S COMPANY—and NANCY MORGAN RITTER, first wife of JOHN RITTER, shares stories about the TV funnyman. Plus: RICK GOLDSCHMIDT’s making of RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, RONNIE SCHELL interview, Sheena Queen of the TV Jungle, Dr. Seuss toys, Popeye cartoons, DOCTOR WHO’s 1960s U.S. invasion, and more fun, fab features! (84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping! Look for #13 in February 2021!
RETROFAN #8
RETROFAN #9
RETROFAN #10
Interviews with MeTV’s 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 ARCHIE-DOBIE GILLIS connection, Pinball Hall of Fame, Alien action figures, Rubik’s Cube & more!
With a JACLYN SMITH interview, as we reopen the Charlie’s Angels Casebook, and visit the Guinness World Records’ largest Charlie’s Angels collection. Plus: interview with LARRY STORCH, The Lone Ranger in Hollywood, The Dick Van Dyke Show, a vintage interview with Jonny Quest creator DOUG WILDEY, a visit to the Land of Oz, the ultra-rare Marvel World superhero playset, and more!
NOW BI-MONTHLY! Interviews with the ’60s grooviest family band THE COWSILLS, and TV’s coolest mom JUNE LOCKHART! Mars Attacks!, MAD Magazine in the ’70s, Flintstones turn 60, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, Honey West, Max Headroom, Popeye Picnic, the Smiley Face fad, & more! With MICHAEL EURY, ERNEST FARINO, ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, and SCOTT SHAW!
NOW BI-MONTHLY! Interviews with ’70s’ Captain America REB BROWN, and Captain Nice (and Knight Rider’s KITT) WILLIAM DANIELS with wife BONNIE BARTLETT! Plus: Coloring Books, Fall Previews for Saturday morning cartoons, The Cyclops movie, actors behind your favorite TV commercial characters, BENNY HILL, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, 8-track tapes, and more!
NOW BI-MONTHLY! Celebrating fifty years of SHAFT, interviews with FAMILY AFFAIR’s KATHY GARVER and The Brady Bunch Variety Hour’s GERI “FAKE JAN” REISCHL, ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH, rare GODZILLA merchandise, Spaghetti Westerns, Saturday morning cartoon preview specials, fake presidential candidates, Spider-Man/The Spider parallels, Stuckey’s, and more fun, fab features!
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
RETROFAN #1
RETROFAN #2
RETROFAN #3
RETROFAN #4
RETROFAN #5
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!
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!
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/Batman memorabilia, & more!
Interviews with 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!
Interviews with MARK HAMILL & Greatest American Hero’s WILLIAM KATT! Blast off with JASON OF STAR COMMAND! Stop by the MUSEUM OF POPULAR CULTURE! 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!
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $8.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99
RetroFan: 2021 Issues!
RETROFAN #13
RETROFAN #14
RETROFAN #15
RETROFAN #16
RETROFAN #17
Holy backstage pass! See rare, behind-thescenes photos of many of your favorite Sixties TV shows! Plus: an unpublished interview with Green Hornet VAN WILLIAMS, Bigfoot on Saturday morning television, TV’s Zoorama and the San Diego Zoo, The Saint, the lean years of Star Trek fandom, the WrestleFest video game, TV tie-in toys no kid would want, and more fun, fab features!
Sixties teen idol RICKY NELSON remembered by his son MATTHEW NELSON, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., rural sitcom purge, EVEL KNIEVEL toys, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Saturday morning’s Super 7, The Muppet Show, behind-the-scenes photos of Sixties movies, an interview with The Sound of Music’s heartthrob-turnedbad guy DANIEL “Rolf” TRUHITTE, and more fun, fab features!
An exclusive interview with Logan’s Run star MICHAEL YORK, plus Logan’s Run novelist WILLIAM F. NOLAN and vehicle customizer DEAN JEFFRIES. Plus: the Marvel Super Heroes cartoons of 1966, H. R. Pufnstuf, Leave It to Beaver’s SUE “Miss Landers” RANDALL, WOLFMAN JACK, drive-in theaters, My Weekly Reader, DAVID MANDEL’s super collection of comic book art, and more!
Dark Shadows’ Angelique, LARA PARKER, sinks her fangs into an exclusive interview. Plus: Rankin-Bass’ Mad Monster Party, Aurora Monster model kits, a chat with Aurora painter JAMES BAMA, George of the Jungle, The Haunting, Jawsmania, Drak Pack, TV dads’ jobs, and more fun, fab features! Featuring columns by FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY.
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Now shipping!
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships April 2021
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships June 2021
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships August 2021
(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $9.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Ships Oct. 2021
2021
Exclusive interviews with Lost in Space’s MARK GODDARD and MARTA KRISTEN, Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, Hogan’s Heroes’ BOB CRANE, a history of WhamO’s Frisbee, Twilight Zone and other TV sci-fi anthologies, Who Created Archie Andrews?, oddities from the San Diego Zoo, lava lamps, and more with FARINO, MANGELS, MURRAY, SAAVEDRA, SHAW, and MICHAEL EURY!
SUBSCRIPTION RATES Alter Ego (Six issues) Back Issue (Eight issues) BrickJournal (Six issues) Comic Book Creator (Four issues) Jack Kirby Collector (Four issues) RetroFan (Six issues)
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EXPEDITED US $80 $103 $80 $56 $59 $80
PREMIUM US $87 $113 $87 $60 $63 $87
INTERNATIONAL $103 $137 $103 $69 $72 $103
DIGITAL ONLY $27 $36 $27 $18 $18 $27
BACK IN PRINT IN 2021:
AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES The 1950s
MARVEL COMICS IN THE 1970s (Expanded Edition)
PIERRE COMTOIS’ sequel covers how STAN LEE became publisher, JACK KIRBY left Marvel, and ROY THOMAS rose as writer & editor! New edition with 16 extra pages! (240-page trade paperback) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $12.99 INCLUDES 16 EXTRA PAGES! BACK IN STOCK FEBRUARY 2021!
REED CRANDALL ILLUSTRATOR OF THE COMICS
(Softcover Edition) ROGER HILL’s history of Crandall’s life and career, with never-seen photos and unpublished artwork! NOW IN SOFTCOVER! (256-page FULL-COLOR TRADE PAPERBACK) $39.95 (256-page Digital Edition) $13.99 NEW SOFTCOVER EDITION IN STOCK FEBRUARY 2021!
NEW PRINTING WITH MINOR TEXT CORRECTIONS, AND EVEN BETTER BINDING AND DURABILITY! BILL SCHELLY tackles the Atomic Era of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis: EC’s TALES FROM THE CRYPT, MAD, CARL BARKS’ Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, the FLASH in Showcase #4, return of Timely’s CAPTAIN AMERICA, HUMAN TORCH & SUB-MARINER, & FREDRIC WERTHAM! (240-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $46.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 BACK IN STOCK FEBRUARY 2021!
TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History. TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA
The 1990s
KEITH DALLAS & JASON SACKS detail the decade X-MEN #1 sold 8.1 million copies, IMAGE COMICS formed, Superman died, Batman broke his back, Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN led to the VERTIGO line of adult comics, and gimmicky covers, skimpy costumes, and mega-crossovers ruled! (288-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $48.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 BACK IN STOCK FEBRUARY 2021! LOOK FOR THE NEW 1945-49 VOLUME IN FALL 2021!
Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com