BrickJournal #84 by TwoMorrows Publishing

Issue 84 • March/April 2024

60+ Builders, One Build:

Welcome to New Hashima!

INSTRUCTIONS AND MORE!

$10.95 US $12.95 CAN

Find us @Barnes & Noble or Subscribe!

THE MAGAZINE FOR LEGO ENTHUSIASTS OF ALL AGES! ®

BRICKJOURNAL magazine spotlights all aspects of the LEGO® Community! It showcases events, people, and models every issue, with contributions and how-to articles by top builders worldwide, new product intros, and more. Available in FULL-COLOR print and digital editions.

#86 ships ! June 2024

NEXT ISSUE: WE TAKE A LOOK AT ALL ASPECTS OF MINIFIGURES! SUBSCRIBE NOW!

#85 ships April 2024!

GET THE NEXT SIX PRINT ISSUES PLUS FREE DIGITAL EDITIONS!

ATE

202

SUBSCRIBE TO BRICKJOURNAL

o $73 Economy US Postpaid (backing board, poly bag) o $100 Premium US (rigid mailer, faster delivery) o $111 International o $29 Digital Editions Only Name: Address: City/Province: State: Country (if not USA): E-mail address:

Zip Code:

(for free digital editions)

DON’T MISS AN ISSUE • ORDER TODAY! TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA

TwoMorrows Publishing

10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com • Order at twomorrows.com LEGO® and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the LEGO Group of Companies. BrickJournal is not associated with The LEGO Group.

For faster service, order online at:

www.twomorrows.com or by phone: 919-449-0344

Issue 84 • March/April 2024

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

People Ralph Savelsberg: Japanese Car Models from Kei Cars to Kaido Racers.................................................3

Building

59 Hours, 60 Builders, 1,000,000 LEGO B ricks, 1 New Hashima: Assembling a Massive Collaboration...............................8 New Hashima Sector 08: The Origins of New Hashima and Sector 08.................................................13 New Hashima Sector 02: Inner City.........17 New Hashima Sector 04: Old City............25 New Hashima Sector 06: Chip off the Old Docks...............................29

A Cyber-Slice of Life: Photographing New Hashima...............36 Music and LEGO: Crafting the Sonic Landscape of New Hashima (abridged)....................41 BrickNerd Instructions: New Hashima Spinner Speeder.............47 Minifigure Customization 101: The Return of the Ocelotl, part 2...........51 You Can Build It MINI Diorama: Ezra Bridger’s Tower.....56

Community

IdahoLUG: Building Pandora..........................................62 Bantha Bricks: Simon Jarry’s Hoth Echo Base Diorama.................................................68 Community Ads...............................................78 Last Word.............................................................79

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!

& DON’T SHARE THEM WITH FRIENDS OR POST THEM ONLINE. Help us keep producing great publications like this one!

From the Editor: Hi! This issue is something of a departure from the usual issue. BrickJournal had an opportunity to document a layout that was the effort of a small community of builders. New Hashima Sector 08 was in an issue previously, and the coordinator of that build informed us that they would be expanding.

March/April 2024 Issue 84 Publisher John Morrow

Editor in Chief Joe Meno BrickNerd and Assistant Editor Dave Schefcik

If you were at Brickworld Chicago 2023, you would have seen the expanded New Hashima. In this issue you’ll get a glance at the building and builders behind it, by the builders themselves. It’s a personal history of a community build that continues to grow.

Proofreader John Morrow

I’m happy to show something that BrickJournal doesn’t do too often. Our focus is usually on a build, but this time for New Hashima, we got to know the builders.

West Coast Editors Ashley Glennon

Photography Editor Geoff Gray

Japanese Bureau Editor Nathan Bryan

Bantha Bricks Correspondent David Strenzler

Contributors: Ted Andes, Carte Baldwin, Jared Burks, Christopher Deck, Shawn Denowh, Chris Edwards, Greg Fastabend, Blake Foster, Stefan Formentano, Simon Jarry, Jordan Jivkov, Simon Liu, Brendan Mauro, Casey McCoy, Tyler Newman, Ralph Savelsberg, Michael Willhoit, Jason Wolfson, David Zimmerman, and Greg Hyland. Many thanks to the websites who have served as mirrors for BrickJournal: www.LUGNET.com www.Brickshelf.com www.peeron.com www.brickmodder.net www.rustyclank.com

About the Cover: New Hashima Sector 08 is first seen at BrickFair Virginia 2022. Photo by Jason Wolfman. About the Contents: A night view of New Hashima. Photo provided by Stefan Formentano.

Speaking of big builds, we also get to see Pandora, built by IdahoLUG, and Hoth, built by Simon Jarry. In smaller builds, we have cars by Ralph Savelsberg. So sit back and take a look! Joe Meno

P.S. Have ideas or comments? Drop me a line at brickjournal@gmail.com. I’m open to suggestions and comments and will do my best to reply. P.P.S... Yes, BrickJournal has a website — www.brickjournal.com! Twitter? Yep, there too — http://twitter.com/brickjournal. Facebook? Yup — http://www.facebook.com/group. php?gid=58728699914&ref=mf. Or you can scan the bottom codes with a QR reader!

Website

Twitter

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

Facebook

Subscriptions

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

BrickJournalTM issue 84, March /April 2024 (ISSN 1941-2347) is published bi-monthly by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614, USA. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Periodicals postage paid at Raleigh, NC. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BrickJournal, c/o TwoMorrows, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Joe Meno, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. BrickJournal Editorial Offices: 6701 Coachman Drive, Springfield, VA 22152, USA. E-mail: admin@brickjournal.com. Send subscription funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial offices. Six-issue subscriptions: $73 US, $111 Elsewhere, $29 Digital Only, and can be purchased at twomorrows.com. LEGO ®, TECHNIC, MINDSTORMS, Belville, Scala, BIONICLE, ExoForce, Mars Mission, World City, and other LEGO theme lines are trademarks of the LEGO Group of companies. Star Wars, The Mandalorian TM & © Lucasfilm. All articles, photos, and art © BrickJournal Media, LLC, TwoMorrows Publishing and the respective writers, photographers, and artists. All rights reserved. All trademarked items are the property of their respective owners and licensees. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

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

People

Ralph Savelsberg’s

Japanese Car Models from Kei Cars to Kaido Racers! Article and Photography by Ralph Savelsberg For years I have been building LEGO cars. Very few of them were Japanese, because I tended to think of those as somewhat boring and uninteresting. That changed, however, when I visited Tokyo on a work trip in 2017. As expected, I saw plenty of boring vehicles, but also many that were interesting and quirky. So, in 2019, when I decided to visit Japan BrickFest in Kobe, I built a few Japanese cars to display there. And, inspired by the cars I saw on that second trip, I have built more since. My main aim when building a car model is to make it recognisable as a particular make and model. This is made easier by building them at a scale of roughly 1/22, which is much larger than cars suitable for LEGO minifigures. This allows adding more details. To add a little life to the models, instead of minifigures, I use my own brick-built figures to go with them, inspired by figures used in LEGOLand parks. Still, even at this larger scale, building a recognisable car is not always easy, particularly if the car I’m trying to build looks a

bit dull. Building something interesting and quirky is both a lot easier and more fun. So, let’s take a closer look at my Japanese LEGO cars and what makes them different.

Kei cars Kei cars are a specifically Japanese type of vehicle rarely seen outside of the country. The Japanese government originally introduced them as part of a reconstruction program after the second World War. The cars’ width, height and length are restricted, and so is their engine displacement. In return, their owners pay a reduced road tax and, in some parts of Japan, where you must have a parking space when buying a car, Kei cars are exempt. As a result, these little cars are very popular, making up roughly one third of Japanese domestic car sales. Because their size is restricted, most Kei cars are almost comically boxy to maximise space inside. I have built three of them. The Suzuki Every Wagon is a van that almost completely maxes out the available volume. Thanks to its high roof and front seats that sit quite far forward, it can seat four people and still have decent cargo space in the rear. The oddly-named Honda N-Box Slash is a supposedly sportier alternative, with a more car-like appearance due to a much lower roofline. Finally, the Daihatsu Move Canbus has retro styling inspired by the classic VW microbus. It is aimed at an oddly specific group of buyers: single women in their thirties. Fewer Japanese people are getting married and apparently this is a sizeable group. They also often still live with their parents, so the car is intended to be practical, with good access through sliding doors, whilst also looking cute, with a smiling front end and headlights that look a bit like eyes. These cars all are boxy, but as you can see, there is quite a bit of variation, and each one has enough features to make it recognizable.

Kei cars, from left to right: Suzuki Every Wagon, Honda N-Box Slash, and Daihatsu Move Canbus.

Emergency Vehicles

A Toyota Crown police car pulling over a Mazda RX-8.

When it comes to being recognizable, it is hard to beat emergency vehicles. I found them fascinating when I was a boy, and since Japan BrickFest would undoubtedly be visited by families with little boys, the LEGO vehicles I took there in 2019 were a police car, an ambulance, and a fire engine. I originally built a Mazda RX-8 patrol car for the show, but later replaced it with a Toyota Crown. Much like the American Ford Crown Victoria, which was commonly used as a police patrol car or taxi in the US, the Toyota Crown is a traditional four-door sedan. The civilian version looks like pretty much any other Japanese sedan, but the police version has a neat black and white livery, influenced by US police cars. And it also has a funky light bar that can be raised, to increase visibility when it is used for traffic duties. When I built this Toyota, I rebuilt the Mazda in red, as a vehicle suitable for a speeding driver.

My Japanese ambulance is a Toyota HiMedic. This is a specialised version of the Toyota HiAce van. Van-based ambulances are used all over the world and HiAce vans are quite common outside of Japan. The HiMedic ambulance is particularly futuristic, though. It very much reminds me of a Star Trek shuttlecraft. Crucial for A Toyota HiMedic ambulance used by the Tokyo Fire Department. its look are the large red emergency lights, the tinted windows, and its tapered sides, which I angled using hinges. My Japanese fire engine, an Isuzu Elf, looks quite similar to fire engines in the rest of the world, at least at a first glance. It is red, obviously, and has all the equipment you would expect on a fire engine, such as hoses, lights, and ladders.

However, as shown by the relative size of the firefighter figures I built to go with it, it is much smaller than most other fire engines, in order to fit Tokyo’s narrow streets. It also comes with a handy little cart, stored in the rear of the vehicle, that can be used to quickly roll out hoses to reach fires in streets and alleys that are even narrower. This is one of my own favorite models in the collection. Since Tokyo has plenty of high-rise buildings, the Tokyo Fire Department obviously also has much larger fire engines and ladder trucks, but these are not nearly as cool as this small Isuzu.

An Suzuki ELF fire engine as used by the Tokyo Fire Department.

Commercial Vehicles Another personal favorite is my Yamato delivery van. Yamato is Japan’s largest courier service. After Japan Brickfest, I visited a Buddhist monastery on the outskirts of Kyoto, together with four other LEGO builders. We were in a wonderfully serene environment, surrounded by gorgeous old temple buildings and trees, but suddenly, in a courtyard, we were confronted by this uniquely ugly van with its distinctive color scheme.

A Yamato delivery van in Kyoto, in 2019 (above), and the LEGO recreation (below).

I immediately loved it, and we started discussing how to build it. The LEGO group reintroduced teal (Bright Bluish Green) as a parts colour in 2017, which is the perfect match for the lower half of the vehicle. The van is a Toyota Quick Delivery, which was specifically designed for use by the Yamato courier company. Its high cab allows the driver to walk through the vehicle to pick up packages stored in the back. It has sliding doors and is narrow, to fit through narrow streets. Because of this, it looks exceptionally tall compared to its width. It is not pretty, but it is pretty cool. In contrast, my Mitsubishi Fuso Canter truck is a lot more conventional. However, there are a few things that make it typically Japanese too. Like the Isuzu fire engine, it is really quite small. Such small trucks are very common in Japanese cities. Furthermore, this particular one has colorful livery of the wonderfully named Meitetsu Golden Air Cargo Company, with the cute company mascot prominently displayed on the vehicle. Yamato’s logo uses a black cat carrying a kitten, which is why it is also known as the Black Cat Company. Meitetsu’s mascot is called Koguma (Japanese for bear cub) carrying a small rucksack. The sides of the van body are made using corrugated panels, which I replicated in my model by stacking alternating grey and (rare) pearl light grey plates.

A Mitsubishi Fuso Canter delivery truck as used by Meitetsu Golden Air Cargo.

The taxi stand at Shinagawa Station, Tokyo in 2017 (left) and a Toyota Comfort taxi (right).

Toyota Comfort taxis may not be quite as iconic as a classic London black cab or a New York City Checker cab, but they are still instantly recognisable. The Comfort was aimed specifically at taxicab operators and was in production for a whopping 22 years, until 2018. These old-fashioned sedans are slowly being replaced by newer vehicles, but you can still expect to see many of them parked on taxi stands near every major Japanese railway station, often in bright company colours. Mine has the colours of the Daiwa Group, common in Tokyo.

Performance Cars So far, I have focussed on everyday Japanese vehicles, but now things will get a little more extreme. The Subaru Impreza, which is also sold in the US, usually is not extreme. Like many other Japanese compact cars, it is competent and reliable, with generally unremarkable styling. However, Subaru has a long history of building performance cars for the World Rally Championship, and versions of these are sold for street use.

Subaru Impreza WRX Sti .

My model represents one of these: it’s a 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti. It has four doors and a trunk, so it can still be used to, say, take the kids to school, but they might lose their breakfasts before they get there. Its styling has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, with bulging fenders, an air scoop on the hood, another big air scoop in the front bumper, a big wing on the back, and gold-colored wheels. My Nissan Skyline Kaido Racer (street racer) is even more extreme. Japanese custom cars are often lumped together under the name Bosozoku, a term that harks back to motorcycle gangs from the 1950s, but there are many distinctive variations. Some styles are quite restrained, with the cars having little more than lowered suspension, but Kaido Racers are very much over the top. Japanese society is full of rules on how to behave to maintain harmony, and more restrictive norms seem to lead to more extreme rebellion.

Nissan Skyline C110 Kaido Racer.

Common features are a deppa (the front spoiler), takeyari (oversized exhaust pipes inspired by bamboo spears), a dramatically lowered ride height through a combination of small tires and wheel camber, massive fender flares, an externally mounted oil cooler (with oil lines running through a headlight opening), and a lurid paint job. It is not pretty, but it is not supposed to be. It is intended to be obnoxious.

Anything but boring I would not call any of the cars in this article pretty. The only exception, perhaps, is the Mazda RX-8, and I guess

this is no coincidence. It was also sold in Europe and the US, so it was designed to appeal to a Western market. Most of the other cars obviously were not, and to my eyes they all look a bit unusual. The design of Kei Cars is driven by tax laws, while the diminutive size of the fire engine and the appearance of the Yamato van are the result of having to navigate narrow streets in many of Japan’s cities. The Kaido Racer is part of a typically Japanese counterculture. These cars are unique due to specifically Japanese circumstances, and that makes them anything but boring.

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

These rates are for ads supplied digitally (PDF, JPEG, TIF, EPS, or Quark/InDesign files accepted). No agency discounts apply. We accept check, money order, and all major credit cards; include card number and expiration date.

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

My Ninjago City build as seen at BrickFair Virginia 2022. Completing it took all three days of set-up.

59 Hours, 60 Builders, 1,000,000 LEGO Bricks, 1 New Hashima:

Assembling a Massive Collaboration Article by Daniel Zimmerman Photos by Chris Edwards, Jordan Wolfman, Tyler Newman, and Simon Liu

After seven years of displaying at fifteen LEGO fan conventions, I consider myself someone with a decent amount of experience setting up a MOC at a LEGO fan convention. I have set up with LUGs to create modular city layouts and I have done a large city based on Ninjago on my own. Both were exciting and challenging tasks in their own right, but nowhere close to the monster that was New Hashima at Brickworld Chicago 2023. I was approached to join the collaborative build at BrickFair Virginia in August of 2022 after Stefan Formentano saw my work on my Ninjago City build. It was also here that I was introduced to the idea of New Hashima and the other collaborators of our growing group. It wasn’t long after that we quickly got to planning this massive build we all wanted to see made. Fast forward to June 2023—60 collaborators from seven different countries pooled into the Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center with approximately one million LEGO bricks in tow, with one goal in mind. We were all extremely excited and expressed it to one another, but I think we were all internally dreading and fearing this final task we had in front of us, which was setting up New Hashima. I think it is safe to say we look upon these 59plus hours of setting up as a fond and beloved memory, but in the moment it was daunting. Upon my arrival at the Renaissance Hotel on Tuesday night, I was greeted by the amusing sight of a group of AFOLs and boxes of bricks. These were my fellow New Hashima collaborators, and as soon as I checked in and placed my luggage away in my room, I headed back in to join them in our early prep for set-up. We started by helping each other bring in our towers from our vehicles so that we could set up the following afternoon when the convention hall opened for set-up at

1:00 p.m. Some of us helped by making small assemblies that would be used to tie the city together, such as the many sidewalks with railings. Some of us began reassembling our cubes and towers that were damaged in transport. Others began testing the strength of our builds so we could rest assured that the city would not collapse in on itself. It was a fun start to the long set-up ahead of us—we chatted, ate dinner, drank, laughed, and built LEGO. It doesn’t get better than that. After a good night’s rest, we spent the morning unloading and preparing for the convention hall doors to open at 1:00 p.m. When the time came, Stefan pulled his trailer up to one of the rolling doors in the convention hall and we unloaded the custom wooden tables he had constructed for New Hashima. In total, four tables held up the city, each one consisting of multiple parts so it could be broken down for transportation. Once all four tables were assembled, we got to work putting the builds onto them. We kept all four tables separated at the start so the collaborators could walk around each one and assemble without having to reach over other tables. Thanks to the genius of Stefan, Simon, Michael, and Mason, each sector of the city was broken down into sectioned standard builds of cubes and toppers. This simplified the order of set-up for the builds for us eighty different collaborators. We just had to follow the master plan for each sector that was broken down layer by layer, and spots labeled for each collaborator.

The collaborators building in the hotel lounge area. Photo by Simon Liu.

My cubes and toppers were located towards the top of Sector 02—The Inner City, meaning there was some time before my contributions would be placed. So I made sure to help Stefan and the other collaborators where I could. It was important that while we assembled each sector, we were feeding wires through each cube so that everyone could turn on their lights. The Inner City was an interesting sector, as unlike the other three square-shaped

The collaborators stashing their builds in their hotel rooms. Photos by Simon Liu.

Simon testing the stability of his tower. Photo by Simon Liu.

The collaborators setting up the tables. Photos by Simon Liu.

sectors, the Inner City is triangular and it has a second table in the middle to add height around the road that encloses the city, as well as provide space for multiple USB hubs that were used for setting up the wiring. Every now and then I would stop what I was doing and look around me. It was incredible to see the 60 of us who were here all working as one towards one goal. We had a circle of folding tables surrounding the growing New Hashima. The tables eventually spilled out into the nearby food court since there were so many of us working. At each table were groups of collaborators building and working. Some were repairing sections damaged in transport. Some were unpacking models shipped by collaborators who couldn’t make it but wanted their builds still in the city, so they had shipped their builds to another collaborator to add. Once my contributions were placed into the Inner City, I stayed around and helped others place their contributions, built internal supports, and added in detailing. Other collaborators did the same, and it helped to create this really fun sense of teamwork as we all worked together to help each other succeed and achieve the shared goal we had. Everyone was smiling and building LEGO together, a sight I very much enjoyed and think back to often.

Example of the layer-by-layer breakdown.

We worked diligently and at a steady pace. We had a lot to do and only so much time before the public hours on Saturday. The cubes were quickly being placed into their respective spots with the wiring being fed through. We would drill holes through the wooden tables so that we could feed them out under the tables and into the central hubs under Sector 02. It was interesting seeing Sector 06: The Docks, be assembled. As it was the lowest section of the city, the table was only about four inches off the ground. It quickly rose up as each cube was put onto it. Simon’s Si-Tower and Casey’s Octan Tower would add substantial height and mass to the entire city, with the SiTower just breaking thirteen feet. Sector 04: The Old City, was just as interesting to see assembled, as it was all

The collaborators assembling and repairing their builds. Photo by Simon Liu.

interconnected through a small monorail and its own sidewalk design, unique to its sector. Once The Inner City had all of its cubes and toppers placed, we pushed in the other three tables next to it and connected them all to their respective sides. From then-on, the collaborators for each Sector spent time fine-tuning little details to blend all their cubes and towers together to keep a consistent flow of design throughout each sector, so that it wouldn’t feel like a bunch of mismatched puzzle pieces. Some of us were on ladders to reach where our cubes and toppers were, and to feed the wires through. It quickly became a running joke between all of us that we would never be an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) friendly work environment. It was fun seeing the lengths we were going to, to get all these fine details into New Hashima. Some would kick their shoes off and actually get onto the tables and into New Hashima itself to add on little touches of detail that we wanted, to put in to breathe life into our city and make it come alive. One of the collaborators, Blake, sat inside The Docks, surrounded by cubes, working on wiring and detailing. Now and then I would see his head stick out of the giant mass of LEGO buildings, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. Once all the cubes and toppers had been placed, everyone worked together to add tiny details and scenes across the city. We spent most of Friday sprinkling in minifigures and small builds and vehicles that made New Hashima feel alive and busy. Some of us were grabbing leftover parts and scraps to add last-minute additions to add more story that the city was telling. We worked and built until we were finally content. When we had finally stopped, it was just after midnight on Saturday morning. We had finished on time and could finally rest. A lot of us, Stefan especially, did not sleep much during set-up. Most of us got about 5-6 hours of rest each night during set-up. I remember never returning to my hotel room until around 1:00 a.m. on each day of set-up. The set-up of New Hashima was long and tedious. It was nothing like I had ever done before. It took a lot out of me physically, but I didn’t care one bit; I was having too much fun to stop. I would do it all over again

The collaborators preparing their builds for final placement. Photos by Jordon Wolfman.

if I could. I got to do all of my favorite things throughout the set-up, which is talking about LEGO, laughing, and making friends. Stefan, Simon, Mason, and Michael did an amazing job herding everyone together and keeping us all on track (for the most part). All the other collaborators gave it their all, and did not cut corners in any way. We had set out to create one of the greatest LEGO builds the community had ever seen. I think it is safe to say we have done just that. The public and community feedback was incredible. Everyone was blown away with what we were able to pull off, and I think inside we were all shocked we managed to pull it off as well. I was in awe—I was finding it hard to believe that I got to be part of what is considered to be one of the greatest builds in the community. The public hours were a blur, and the next thing I knew, we had disassembled New Hashima and we were all headed home. Turns out it is much easier to disassemble New Hashima than it is to assemble it. But as I said before, regardless of how long and tedious it was, I would do it all over again, as it was one of my favorite experiences of my life. YONHO (You Only New Hashima Once)!

During construction of the Docks, Blake Foster builds from within. Photo by Kevin Murney.

Blake Foster works on the growing mass of wires under the table of New Hashima. Photo By Simon Liu.

George placing sections of the Old City. Photo by Jordan Wolfman.

A common sight: collaborators working together. Photo by Jordan Wolfman.

People

Sector 08, an integral part of the vibrant city of New Hashima, showcases a captivating blend of corporate prowess and residential living. The district’s skyline is adorned with sleek corporate towers symbolizing economic dominance, while the residential buildings offer a humble refuge for the city’s inhabitants. These functional residential towers reflect the tenacity and resourcefulness of the residents in finding solace amidst the challenges of urban life in Sector 08.

Sector 08 Skyline. Photo by Jordan Wolfman.

The Origins of New Hashima and Sector 08 Sector 08 is where New Hashima began: A dream sitting in my mind for years, and my attempt to replicate the vision started by the BroLUG group in their 2013 Cyberpocalypse display. Having seen what was possible when I first saw this picture making the rounds online, I could hardly understand what I was looking at. I wasn’t a huge proponent of the cyberpunk genre and had never built in the style, but I knew someday I would jump in. When I began work on Sector 08 in 2019, I wanted to follow in the BroLug Cyberpocalypse Display. Photo by footsteps of the BroLUG group, Chris Edwards. and knew this was going to become a collaborative effort. I went to work, with help from my LUG mate Peter Bradberry, and began laying the groundwork for the shared vision that would become Sector 08, and eventually the New Hashima Cyberpunk Project. Little did I know that this decision would change my LEGO hobby forever. Peter and I built our first iteration of our cyber city for BrickFair Alabama in 2020, and then a new iteration again for BrickFair Alabama 2022. (Thanks, Covid, for the extra year of building time.) Photos of Peter’s and my display began making the rounds online and were eventually noticed by Simon Liu, who reached out to me to discuss the build and show support for the revival of the BroLUG cyberpunk project. I was so excited to hear that my build had been seen and admired by the original crew who I had taken so much inspiration from. They weren’t just impressed, though; they were planning a ten year reunion build in 2023 and

Article by Stefan Formentano Photos by Chris Edwards, Jordan Wolfman, Ted Andes, Brendan Mauro, and Carter Baldwin

asked if I’d like some part in that display. Needless to say, I gleefully accepted. I’d never dreamed I’d have the opportunity to build with these titans of the LEGO community, but what happened in reality was even more unpredictable. While talking with the BroLUG group about their reunion display, I decided to bring Sector 08 to BrickFair Virginia 2022 to give the build a bit of a send off before switching gears to whatever the BroLUG reunion build would turn out to be. I had designed my build around the BroLUG cube standard, and adding new builds was fairly easy. Eleven more builders decided to join in on the fun, and we put together a pretty impressive display for only a few months working together.

Sector 08 first public showing 2020. Photo by Stefan Formentano

With the BrickFair VA show done and ten months before Brickworld Chicago (the designated setting for the reunion build), it was time to discuss what the direction of the reunion build would be. Much to my surprise, the guys were interested in shelving their original plans for the reunion build in favor of expanding on the New Hashima standard Peter and I had developed. We had proven the standard could work in Virginia, and with the right recruiting, planning, and dedication, we had the potential to create something never before seen by the LEGO convention community. We would expand off of Sector 08 and incorporate three additional sectors: 02–Inner City, 04–Old City, and 06–Docks. Each would have its own backstory and creative direction, making New Hashima a fully realized concept.

Assembling Sector 08 at Brickworld Chicago

Sector 08 Expanded 2022. Photo by Stefan Formentano.

The BrickFair Virginia 2022 Crew.

Sector 08 at BrickFair 2022. Photo taken by Jordan Wolfman and edited by Stefan Formentano.

Heading into Chicago, I had a decent idea of what to expect. I had assembled Secor 08 multiple times at this point, and was confident I could get it done in time. I arrived with my trailer on the Tuesday before the event and began unloading, and quickly realized that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew. The tubs my bricks were packed into hadn’t made the journey as well as I had hoped, but luckily my crew had already taken over the hotel lobby and was busy assembling various parts of New Hashima. I staked my claim at one of the tables and started right away getting Sector 08 back into tip-top shape.This involved a couple nights of sub-three hour sleeps, but the energy around the build kept everyone working at breakneck speed. We made it into the convention hall Wednesday afternoon and the 60+ builders began assembling their individual sectors, but Sector 08 would have to wait. I wasn’t the only one with transport problems, and a whole tower that sat right on the edge of Inner City and Sector 08 needed to be rebuilt from scratch. I was extremely nervous if I would have enough time to get Sector 08 done. The previous fastest time I had been able to assemble the build was 20 hours, and it was looking like I would have much less this time around. Thursday evening rolled around and it was finally time to begin. It turned out I had nothing to worry about. New Hashima had attracted the best of the best builders from around the world, and the entire team was completely dedicated to seeing it through. Everyone standing around jumped in to help get Sector 08 assembled in record time. When the last bricks went on at two minutes til midnight Friday, the crowd let out a roar of approval and we had finally done it. New Hashima and Sector 08 stood before us in all its glory! Layout of the New Hashima display for Brickworld Chicago 2023. By Stefan Formentano

Sector 08 - The Builders Ted Andes was an early recruit to the Chicago New Hashima project, and was the first person to finish a cube for the build. Originally we had planned for Ted to have a spot in Inner City, but after sign-ups began to take off, we needed to redraw the map. Ted graciously accepted a spot in the original New Hashima sector. He finished another cube, and then topped both of his cubes off with an incredible topper that fit the CORPO vibe of Sector 08 perfectly. His build was adorned with many great ads including the crowd favorite “Sugoi Dekai”, “Umaibo” and “Siouxsie Sioux’s eyes”. Ted had builds spread across almost every sector, but I was so happy to have his major contributions be part of Sector 08. Another fun aspect of the New Hashima project is all the small details that are hidden amongst the colossal build. Sector 08 had some of my favorites. This Cyberpunk Concept Car by 1saac W. found its way onto the streets of Sector 08 and was caught in a riot being suppressed by Carter’s NATO troops. We also had custom animated ads appearing on our many BrickStuff video screens, advertising the vehicle’s upcoming release.

Ted Andes assembles his tower in Sector 08. Photo by Brendan Mauro.

Photo and build by Ted Andes.

Ben, Lyra, and Stefan work to assemble Sector 08. Photo by Brendan Mauro.

Photo and build by Ted Andes.

Another fun hidden gem was this mysterious vendor built by BrickinNick. We put a call out for people who couldn’t quite commit to large creations in time for Chicago to still participate by building these small scenes. By including these small details, we were able to match the cyberpunk aesthetic and to help bring

Carter’s NATO troops protect Ted’s Tower. Photo by Carter Baldwin.

the city to life. We wanted the viewer to have something to find, no matter what section of the build they found themselves in front of.

The Future of Sector 08 and New Hashima BrickinNick’s Mysterius Street Vendor. Photo by Jordan Wolfman.

1saac W.’s Concept Car stuck at the front of the 08 Corpo Riots. Photo by Carter Baldwin.

Secor 08 Cyberpunk Edgerunner. Photo by Jordan Wolfman.

Cyberpunk Concept Car by 1saac W. (1saacbricks)

The New Hashima Daemons. Photo by Jordan Wolfman.

Chicago was an unbelievable success. We had the time of our lives coordinating online and then coming together at the convention to see New Hashima finished. It was an extremely special time that I will always cherish. Many thanks to the Daemons for their faith in the project and their dedication to the impossible. I had planned on Chicago being the end of New Hashima for me, at least for a little while, but the building just refuses to stop. We have had so many people reach out that want to be part of the build in the future, that it just wouldn’t be right to stop. Sector 08 is expanding every day as I work on new additions. Different iterations of the New Hashima project have been displayed at shows across the US and in Europe. Progress is always being made, and there are many future plans for the cyberpunk city. Check out NewHashimaCollab on Instagram to keep up with the project. New Hashima isn’t even close to done, not by a longshot!

In the heart of New Hashima lies Sector 02: the Inner City. The picture-perfect cyberpunk lifestyle reins strongest here, with a skyline dominated by immense superstructures made up of luxurious housing, high-end shopping districts, and extravagant entertainment venues. Highranking elites enjoy the finest amenities that money can buy, high above the city streets. Beneath this beautiful skyline lies the darker control of the city by the district’s wealthiest patrons, profiting through every means necessary.

Inner City’s magnificent highrises, towering above New Hashima. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

Three megastructures dominate the Inner City in a triangular fashion, looming over their surrounding districts. Tower 1, 2, and 3 are each made up of different programs, linking the districts they lead into toward this central metropolis. With culture entering the Inner City from every direction, law enforcement and private security agencies ensure its safety from not only other district uprisings, but also from within the city’s own lower levels. After all, everyone wants a piece of the wealth. The infrastructure to support the Inner City is a two-tiered custom, triangle-shaped wooden table. The lower tier supports the base level of each tower where a highway runs beneath them. New Hashima is after all

Article by Stefan Formentano Photos by Casey McCoy and Kevin Murney

Layout of Sector 02: Inner City and the adjacent sectors, further dissected per cube for exact planning. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

Nighttime between Towers 1 and 2 looking into the center of Sector 02. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

Brickson Tower looking over the Inner City Skyline. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

A custom advertisement for New Hashima’s very own Dream Chair: “Escape Reality.” Photograph by Casey McCoy.

a continuously growing city. On the logistics side, the lower tier of the center table houses space for wiring and electrical ports. The top of the lowest cube and height of the upper tier needed to match exactly, so as not to have any unevenness in the build. At this level, the base of each megastructure for the three main towers began. With each tower consisting of builds by multiple different individuals, constructing the cube module exactly became immensely important so they would interlock and be structurally sound. Inside of each cube, it was important that a brick-built mechanical chase be constructed to feed wiring to other above or below cubes along with the toppers. Each cube and topper feed off of USB, and all feed into multi-port hubs on the lower table. Aside from the table and electrical components, the rest of the Inner City is entirely created with LEGO elements. The Technic cube modules allow a strong base that can plug into one another, and by adding more brick into that frame, it increases the rigidity even more. These structural nodes allow the great heights of the Inner City to be reached. Once the outline for each tower was created by project leaders, collaborators were able to sign up for whichever cube and/or topper they wished to contribute. Four different levels of cubes sit above the tiered table, then

finished off with toppers. Builder coordination primarily focused on what sides they wanted to have displayed. Each builder was allowed to choose the program for their own cube, and area for their topper. The loose rule of staying within your own boundary (32x32 studs) was the primary guideline; however, neighbors were very able to coordinate about colliding builds if need be. Toppers followed the same rule, yet had more freedom, especially in terms of height. Sector 02 is not only the tallest section of the city, but also serves the city as a connection hub between the surrounding sectors. A highway follows the perimeter of the city in its sublevel, along with a railway moving imported goods, maybe even some contraband, from Sector 06, or a metro running through the Old City. The highly populated city sits atop these modes of circulation, all of which circle back into the center of New Hashima’s three towers. Tower 1’s U-shaped plan opened into Sector 08: Corporations. The tower is four levels high, with contributions from six builders. Modular pod living surrounded by luxury shopping venues, nightclubs and food courts galore dominate the tower’s understory. As is with a dense population, the spacious living pods provided the bare minimum living requirements for their occupants, stacking together in dense fashion. Above the dense layers rose five towers, making up Tower 1’s megastructure. Early on in the process, I met with my two counterparts to coordinate the overhang of our three toppers on one side of Tower 1. Lyra Peacock, Kevin Murney, and myself made sure that if our towers did overhang into one another’s area, that their build could either receive the overhang, or rotate a topper to minimize any overhang. Lyra and I had towers right next to one another, and performed a quick fix while setting up this section at the convention. Even though each topper was quite heavy, the weight was not a concern with the sturdy cube modules beneath, yet each builder still aimed for their topper to be as light as possible while capturing all of the desired detail. Kevin Murney took a different approach to designing within the cyberpunk genre for his topper and two cubes. Having not built for ten years, he focused on two guiding principles: contrast and nostalgia. Kevin stated that “contrast was selected as a guiding principle to add emphasis between elements.” Mixing older LEGO bricks and colors with new elements was able to give his tower a unique language among the skyline. “...There was contrast between the clean lines of the white office upper portion of the tower versus the gritty dense medium-nougat/coral masonry apartments at the base walkway level. Further contrast exists

Towers by Kevin Murney, Lyra Peacock, and Ben Grayson (from left to right). Photograph by Casey McCoy.

Kevin Murney’s tower during World of Lights, glowing in all sorts of new ways. Photograph by Kevin Murney.

between the more recently addedon yellow lab modules versus their extension off the side of the older white tower,” mentioned Kevin. Nostalgia came from the incorporation of his childhood LEGO elements of the 1990s. With themes such as Aquanots, and various space themes, unique LEGO molds, colors, and prints were a key part in his creation. “The white upper part of the topper carried that post-modern architectural influence as a… white-washed castconcrete once-office tower, with a later addition of yellow lab modules which jut off the side and consist primarily of the… 4x3x3 panel with porthole (part ID 300080c01). Another nod to design styles and trends from the 1990s can be seen on the light aqua/blue 1991 sign on the back of my topper, which has significance as the year I was born,” Kevin shared. Nearby is Brickson Tower, a tower of my design, a luxurious high-rise apartment, with its 7G antenna marking the highest point in Inner City, measuring 11’-10” from the floor. Brickson Tower transported in five distinct sections that then notched into one another with removable facade panels to plug in lighting for each section. The lowest foundation core, the first Glancing around Tower 2, advertisements fill the inside of Tower 1, overlooking the city center. Photograph by Kevin Murney. hexagonally shaped apartment block, an interstitial venting core, then next apartment block, capped with the last bit of core beneath the radio antenna. With each section being evenly weighted, tower lean was negated, remaining level after being transported, displayed and reassembled at multiple conventions. Each section also delivers Technic beams that would insert into the above and below module, capturing any incurred lateral forces. Conceptually the tower focused on form, with changes from slender to overhanging, breaking away from a square plan. The tower’s more muted color scheme gave it the ability to blend in, while its shape and neon yellow accent lines became the eye-catching element, and painted the skyline with a massive red and white radio tower. It’s essential everyone is wired in, especially in the center of New Hashima. Like multiple towers throughout the project, LED screens flash custom-made advertisements for various goods, services, and corporations throughout the Inner City.

Color certainly played a part within every aspect of New Hashima, and builders such as Meredith Bell were inspired to use their favorite, standout colors for their design. Drawing from mid-century modern and brutalist architecture, Meredith’s teal tower captures the style’s heaviness, while giving it a lighter feeling through the use of teal and aqua with a white base. She also drew upon inspiration of Japanese pagodas, re-stylizing them with an enjoyable new color palette. While the purple and neon yellow accent

each other during the day, the same pagoda takes on new life during World of Lights, where the neon illuminates the surrounding context with ultraviolet lights, and the purple recedes into the shadow. At the next face of Inner City’s triangular plan resides Tower 2—a megalith that connects the city to the huge port system that is Sector 06: Docks. Ten builders’ contributions created this multi-tiered shopping area, with fresh imports galore. Tower 2 stands as the Inner City’s densest structure, fraught with detail. Vendors line alleyways and corridors, graffiti and gangs roam the claustrophobic lower levels, while large high-class towers fill out the skyline to its fullest.

A particularly colorful side of Tower 1 with multiple cubes and toppers designed by Meredith Bell. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

With a contribution of two cubes and two toppers for Tower 2, Daniel Zimmerman’s goal was to push himself as a builder by limiting his color palette and part selection. “ I quickly realized it was getting much bigger than I thought it would, so… I stopped once I ran out of transparent light blue 1x2 bricks,” Daniel mentioned regarding his sand green tower, with the blue brick serving as glass behind its facade. Light also played an important role in his design choices. Within one of his cubes, The Factory, he chose to utilize 2x2 transparent light blue round bricks with EL wire running through their internal cross axle connection to provide an ambient and electrifying glow “giving off power to the factory building behind it.” Daniel also set out to create a “newer” tower, one drawing from curvature in post-modern architecture. With corporation control being synonymous with the world of cyberpunk, Daniel added the overly-sized billboard to do just that; appear as the home of a “menacing” corporation. Kevin Murney also contributed a “Cult Cube” to the depths of Tower 2. After all, multiple groups and followings exist within the cyberpunk world, and especially within the seawalls of New Hashima. “Conceptually the large head from the Big Buddha statue in Hong Kong was salvaged and brought to display in New Hashima,” shared Kevin. Cybernetic displays, lights, and cabling plug into the Buddha head and run through the entrance of technoskeleton columns. The Erechtheion (an ancient Greek temple in Athens, notable for sculpted figure columns), and Syd Mead’s early Blade Runner concept art inspired the use of larger than minifigure-scale LED keychains as columns in front of the cybernetic Buddha head. Keving shared that “the result is an ominous juxtaposition and joinery between the ancient religion and near-future electronic technology.” Tower 3 serves the Inner City as a place of high stakes and immense relaxation and pleasure with the casino-topped bathhouse. Composed by seven builders, the main structure of a 2x2 cube center is flanked by a single central cube on either opposite face. The lower levels of the tower’s base consisted solely of the casino, featuring a double-tiered aquarium, nightclub, peaceful ornamental garden, speeder bike refueling, nightclub, and shopping venues specializing in modular furniture. The grand casino towers over the lower slums of the Old City in Sector 04. However, towards the courtyard of the Inner City, Tower 3 consisted of dense apartment housing for the melting pot of culture that has found its way to the Inner City.

At night, Meredith Bell’s towers take on different shades with the use of UV dot lights. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

Led and largely contributed to by Mason Ricks, and the help of Riley Moreau’s aquarium and nightclub cubes, Tower 3 occupied the space of a 2x2 cube footprint within its central structure, flanked by one cube stacks at either side, inset from the front and rear facades of the central core by half-cube distances. With this tower being contributed to by fewer individuals, the freedom of the center could stray from the modular language of the rest of the city, yet starts from the lowest level within the city. The adjacent stacked cubes tie the design back into the style of the surrounding infrastructure. By breaking up this grid, Mason Ricks was able to establish a unique and cohesive language in a few architectural moves, that all lead up to his bathhouse, sitting eye-level with the surrounding toppers.

An approach into the Inner City between Tower 2 (left) and Tower 3 (right). Photograph by Casey McCoy. Daniel Zimmermans’ sand green banking tower sitting atop Tower 2, peaking into Sector 06. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

At Sector 02’s street level, a much different lifestyle exists; one filled with the organized chaos of cyberpunk hustle and bustle, where pockets of peaceful beauty insert themselves. The city’s center features park space, and a hologram figure based on Joi from Blade Runner 2049. The plaza features a central park and artificial tree created by Ted Andes, utilizing multiple of the Bionicle Vahki jaw elements (part ID 47333), a LEGO element he particularly enjoys

Kevin Murney’s Cybernetic Buddha head, adjacent to a classic modular furniture venue. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

finding new uses for. Rather than setting out with this element usage in mind, Ted stated “…So it wasn’t, ‘I am going to build a tree, what can I use?’ It was, ‘Let’s see if I can make something cool out of these trans blue Vahki stalks, as they are very cyberpunk in color.’” In a similar vein of color, Cybernetic Woody, created by Joe Minieri, utilizes all but 17 transparent elements in its construction. A variety of light and dark blue bricks, and an orange hat, capture the character’s iconic look while illuminating its surroundings. With the future becoming tech-heavy, it is now only natural that cybernetic enhancements have become ever-present within nature, even if it was not by choice. Foliage within the cyberpunk world is sparse, primarily existing as weeds crawling through the infrastructure. Some individuals have incorporated natural and beautiful overgrowth within their respective elements, such as Mason Ricks’ cherry blossom tree atop his ornamental garden, or Nannan Zhang’s last remaining Wisteria tree within the seawalls of the city. Zhang’s stair-stepped, hexagonal base gives the natural object a hierarchy within the dense, technology-saturated environment, and allows for the beautiful growth, and build, to be celebrated by all patrons of New Hashima. A nearby cybernetic cherry tree approaches nature differently, with imaging the luscious leaves as an artificial housing for electronic components and source of ambient lighting for nearby apartment homes. Accompanied by a chemical ridden reflecting pond and ornamental bridge, this slice of nature attempts to make amends to the fully human created environment. The juxtaposition of Ted’s and my artificial nature to that of Mason and Nannan, gives the Inner City another level of depth within the continuously growing cyberpunk world. Small apartments creating Tower 3 overlook the Inner City central plaza space. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

Tower 3, led by Mason Ricks, featuring a multi-tiered casino, and other high-end amenities. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

The two towers. A closer look at one of the towers.

Daniel Zimmermans’ Nintendo logo viewed between the edge of Tower 3 (left) and Tower 1 (right). Photograph by Casey McCoy. Ted Andres cybernetic tree utilizing Vahki brain stems located within the center plaza of the Inner City. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

A peek into the center of Sector 02 between Tower 3 (left) and Tower 1 (right). Photograph by Casey McCoy.

Located next to the grand bathhouse of Tower 3, an ornamental garden features an overhanging cherry tree by Mason Ricks. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

A brick-built hologram of Cybernetic Woody in the center of Sector 02, created by Joe Minieri. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

Sector 02: Inner City incorporates many walks of life, especially luxurious ones, with its clean atmosphere, vibrant colors, and exuberant structures. Even though mischief lurks within the lower levels, peaceful ambiance can be found in the plaza, while enjoying the bustling life of markets and vendors at every corner.

Nannan Zhang’s last remaining Wisteria tree nestled between Towers 1 and 2 within the Inner City Plaza. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

A cybernetic reflecting pool and cherry tree by Ben Grayson provide hexagonal pod homes with artificial park space. Photograph by Casey McCoy.

The Old City, an urban enclave neighboring New Hashima, combines retro aesthetics with a sense of decay. Its crumbling buildings and neglected infrastructure stand as a stark contrast to the rest of the city, while an underground culture thrives in Sector 04, offering sanctuary to rebels, outcasts, and those seeking refuge from the ruling elite.

Sector 04.

One of my favorite angles. Great depth of field, feels like the city goes on forever.

Article and Photos by Michael Willhoit

When we began planning for New Hashima, I had always envisioned a sector that felt noticeably older and grungier than the rest of the city. Every place has this: older style of buildings, less up-to-date infrastructure, maybe even a kind of modernist, planned community feel to it. I landed on this idea because there are layers to a city. Time periods collide in awkward ways, new stuff gets strapped on and piled onto old stuff, and it really just creates this unique vibe that I think is quintessentially Cyberpunk. The keyword is Palimpsest—ornate styles of buildings covered in technology from a new era. When planning this sector, I really wanted to create a place that felt intertwined and overlapped with movement and layers. We incorporated a monorail that looped the big island, as well as a train line loop that entered and exited the inner city.

The plan was really based on transit. It wasn’t intended originally, but just developed naturally. The more we worked on our contributions, the more we added to the lore. The only way into the Old City was on a rickety elevated train line that only made two stops—one on the small island and one on the big island—and it doesn’t stop for long. Once on the big island, there was a local monorail station. Better make it before the last stop for the night or else you may find yourself somewhere… undesirable.

Inspiration We had a huge Pinterest board and were constantly sharing inspiration images from our reallife experiences, as well as cool art and photos we saw online. Most of what I curated dealt with grungier, grimier artwork depicting alleyways, decrepit towers, and antiquated technology. I found the art of a few people like Nivanh Chanthara and Johnny Terror super inspiring, as well as real world locations like Kowloon Walled City and Cairo. Syd Mead’s early artwork for Blade Runner was a constant reference for me in particular, as I sought to replicate in The deepest pocket of the Old City. In the overall display, this was one of the least accessible to view, LEGO some of the ornate Egyptian which I think worked to its advantage. and Chinese styled columns and building features seen in his LA streetscapes. Art is all about synthesizing elements into your own unique take on something, and I tried to explain that as clearly as possible to everyone who contributed. We all found what inspired us and made it our own.

George’s rug shop deep in the bowels of the city.

Another design intention for this part of the city was for it to be uniquely Middle Eastern or African in its style, even in just a few key moments. Cyberpunk always focuses on eastern Asia, so I felt that the near east and middle east was uncharted territory for most of us. I myself have had the privilege of traveling to Athens and Istanbul, two cities packed densely with modernist apartment complexes plopped on top of ancient ruins, each with their own unique histories. One of the most striking things I saw was Street basin by Ryan Keeth. a traditional Islamic foot bath on the streets, embedded into the wall of a relatively new office tower. It eventually found its way into the collab in Ryan Keeth’s (Rabk’s) section.

Dedication That brings us to The Crew. For years now I’ve been assembling The Crew. I love The Crew. Though every person in this collab was allowed to participate because they were top-notch builders, I invited the people that I knew had the style, the sauce, to contribute to this project in the perfect way. Folks I’ve known for years who did apocaLEGO, military, space, and of course cyberpunk in years prior, fit the bill. There were a couple of returns from the previous year like Tobias, George, Brian, Brailey, Jordan, and me, all of whom knew the brief super well and jumped right into it. Then there was Ryan and Jack, two historical builders I’ve also known for years, who knocked it out of the park on their first foray into cyberpunk. Zach, Cam, Joseph, Jackson, Josh, and Rolf were also new to the collaboration, but are seasoned builders who all made beautiful contributions that fit the vibe and seamlessly blended with one another. Finally, we have special thanks to Conner Lill, who primarily made his contributions to the Docks, but was instrumental in finishing the elevated train.

Hard at work.

The process of putting together this gargantuan project was amazing. I think what really made this sector work was how carefully everyone worked to blend their cubes into their neighbors’ cubes. There was near constant communication between folks who shared a border. Joseph and Cam had designed a sidewalk that wrapped around their buildings; Ryan, Brian and I all had a continuous walkway and overlapping structures that were carefully measured from pages of photos so that they lined up perfectly on-site. You could barely tell where one cube started, and another cube ended. Brian even went the extra mile to build a portion of George’s Dragon Apartments on his cube, so that when it was all slotted into place, you could barely tell that it wasn’t attached. Despite our best efforts to align everything and perfectly assemble on the first try, there were inevitable hiccups. They were stressful for a moment, but honestly the ad hoc solutions we found on-site are really what this hobby is all about. For starters, Jack’s cube came to us completely ruined. He had been so confident in his packing ability, that before he shipped it out, he decided to take a video of himself giving it a solid kick, just to show us that afterward, nothing was rattling! Tobias and Ryan had to fully rebuild it. In the process, we did find that his monorail tunnel didn’t quite work,

The Dragon Apartments.

so we quickly fixed that by ripping a wall off and modifying it. Silver linings. Zach’s pagoda and shanty island came in a similar state of disrepair. However, this was one of my favorite moments. We had a ThugLUG cameo in the form of Ben. He reconfigured Zach’s whole island on-site when it was found that it simply could not fit underneath the railroad as planned. It was a chopped and screwed remix of a classic. Josh’s dead mall, half sunken in the shallows of Old City, was well and truly dead. Dan, Kevin, and myself took hours to revive it, and honestly we did a decent job. Fortunately, it was intended to look destroyed and run-down, so us not reassembling it correctly only really added to the aesthetic. There were the train tracks. George had an original monorail set up for our big island, and every member that had a cube with that monorail running through it had the challenge of making sure it ran properly, but also still look amazing. There were some issues on-site that we had to iron out, but the accomplishment of getting that monorail running made us feel like real champions. Huge thanks to everyone who made this possible. I could literally talk about the Old City for days, but we don’t have that kind of word limit. Thanks to Stefan, Simon, and Mason for being excellent co-leaders, and thanks to all the Old City Boiz. The destroyed remnants of the old world. The Old City can be seen in the front of this photo.

The docks of New Hashima.

Sector 06: A bustling waterfront district, serving as a vital hub for industry and transport. It accommodates various modes of transport, such as inter-solar SHIPs, hovercrafts, railways, and automobiles, facilitating the movement of cargo throughout the city. The district’s vibrant atmosphere is a melting pot of cultures attracting seafarers, traders and immigrants. Amidst the busy activities, the shadow of the docks harbor a thriving black market, smuggling operations, and clandestine opportunities.

Chip Off the Old Docks:

or Does Simon Dream of Electric Sheep?

It may seem professional, but the neighboring text was thrown together last minute with AI generated text—a tonally fitting way to “write” about our dystopian, cyberpunk world. A bit meta, I know. But with a little luck, our sector managed to exceed the AI description’s vision for our final build—a monstrously big LEGO display with a vibrant atmosphere of seafarers, traders, and immigrants. That, of course, couldn’t be done without a whole lot of planning and last minute panicking as everything fell into place. (Editor’s note: the original submission of this article was created entirely from AI and subsequently rejected by the publisher.) Personally, it was the most challenging LEGO project I have been involved in since joining the LEGO community. But how did we get to the finish line? Well, to tell the full story, we need to start at the beginning: the BroLUG CyberCity collaboration from ten years before. This fresh, mind-blowing concept would sow the seeds for the true vision of a LEGO Cyberpunk world come to life in New Hashima.

The Original For me, it was a dream to be able to join and build with BroLUG by contributing something to the first Cyber City in 2013 at BrickFair Virginia. Having seen their previous collab and the first iteration of Cyber City, I knew that this was the start of something special. For my contribution, I built a drone recharging station with a robo-nightclub sitting on top. The drone recharging station was a very subtle reference to the book: Do Androids dream of Electric

Article by Simon Liu Photos by Blake Foster, Jordan Wolfman, Tyler Newman, and Simon Liu

Sheep by Philip K. Dick, that was subsequently made into the genredefining movie Blade Runner (1982), directed by Ridley Scott. And a year later, we did it again and built the CyberDocks: a slummy area with giant SHIPs, large landing bays, scummy water, and of course, cube stacks. While back then I had made enough of a name for myself as a decent Sci-Fi builder—even qualified enough to compete in Iron Builder— I’ll be honest; my sections for both collabs kinda sucked compared to the rest of the group. I was still developing as a builder and honing my craft.

The Dream

The first Cyber City, built at BrickFair Virgina in 2013.

So as the years passed and I got better, I dreamed of redemption (though without the sheep—cause we didn’t have cool LEGO sheep moulds back then). Throughout the years, there had been ideas, hopes, and semiironic jokes to do a 10th anniversary event to bring back the Cyber City with surviving BroLUG members. And with a decade of collecting, I was sitting on the weirdest, most wonderfully colourful pieces with the hope for the day to give it my all, one last time. Leading up to the 2023 anniversary date, many seeds had been planted, and discussions had, on doing a CyberPunk display at multiple conventions. I have the hilariously bad sketches to prove it! But in 2022, a year before the 10th anniversary, the Dreamy Stefan Formentano entered the stage and changed the game. While not part of the original BroLUG crew, this castle

builder was inspired and had been working on his own CyberCity: “New Hashima”. It was so well detailed, thought out, and impressive to the BroLUG crew, that we made a critical decision to not proceed with our dreams, but Stefan’s dream. To bring Stefan’s full vision to life, we were exceedingly ambitious and decided to have three new sections for Brickworld 2023 to add onto Stefan’s existing world. I was given one sector to dream up and coordinate. Knowing that one section would be the “04: Old City” (the slums) and another “02: Inner City” (boujee, new developments), I had free rein to dream up whatever I wanted for the third. From start to finish, we would only have ten months to collect builders (and pieces) to make this dream a reality. The pressure was on.

The Idea

From the central sketch, ideas and inspirations were found for the Docks.

Taking the same vibe and lessons from the 2014 CyberDocks collab, we determined the most interesting addition would be a Sci-Fi focused area: “06: Docks.” This section would pay homage to the original 2014 builds and, more importantly, slightly slide the theme gradient to bring in more Sci-Fi builders that may not be as enthused/comfortable with the CyberPunk aesthetic. With the original 2014 build as a guide, I created a quick sketch build of what the 06: Docks sub-collaboration could look like: a space port sector—a vertical reinterpretation of the 2014 build as a massive cargo building. Unlike all the other sectors in New Hashima, which relied on a somewhat organic placement of structures to achieve a sense of unity, the Docks was approached in the opposite way, where the docks were designed from the top down. Instead of having the builders flesh out the sector organically, the Docks was envisioned as a single monolithic structure that could be segmented and divided up to individual contributors to have their own little slice. This would create an extremely dense and interesting superstructure that consisted of four subsections and types of contributions: Space Port (with SHIPs), Warehouse (with the bulk of cubes), Toppers (with Octan and Si-Town Towers), and The Sea Wall (and graffiti); subsections within a subsection! And through sticking to this classic Sci-Fi superstructure concept, we were able to draw in more classic Sci-Fi builders. Each one of these components, and their respective builders, were instrumental to telling the story of the Docks.

A view of the superstructure in the Docks.

Space Port The goal was simple: BIG SHIPs. We knew that not all Sci-Fi builders would be interested in doing Cyberpunk/New Hashima, but having a place to build a SHIP in an elaborate display is any builder’s dream. We designed the Docks to have just that—three SHIP bays that would allow for three SHIPs to be able to be loaded/unloaded with shipping crates for interplanetary supply chain logistics. Blake Foster—one of our most gung-ho team members—had designed and built a series of amazing cargo containers.

The warehouse area in the Docks.

The Docks with the Space Port in the foreground.

We concluded that this was the perfect component to tie all our cargo SHIPs together. All the SHIPs would have a slight twist on the formula, however. They needed to be vertically standing SHIPs. This fell under the “Rule of Cool” which subsequently became the motto for the Docks—not all things needed to make sense. In the real world, the amount of heat from the exhaust would likely fry any poor minifig standing so close to the Docks sector. While we did have two legitimate, professional rocket scientists on the New Hashima team that could point out whether these SHIPs made sense or not, if it was cool, we did it—and thus, a giant section devoted to massive SHIPs and cool looking cargo containers. And to fill these three precious SHIP bays, we were lucky enough to get two of the most illustrious Sci-Fi builders to create awesome SHIPs: Adrian Drake and Zach Clapsadle. To round out the line-up, I took the opportunity during SHIPtember to fill out the third bay with my own SHIP: a Maersk hauler made with legitimate LEGO Maersk blue—an extremely rare, expensive colour (thank you, Alec!).

Some of the detail in the Docks.

Warehouse This was the majority of the volume of the build, but subsequently the heart of the Docks. If the SHIPs were sleek, shiny, and new, the Warehouse would be dingy, rough around the edges, and lived in. This is where the grit and grime aesthetic shown through to portray the essence of our sector. This was the bread and butter of the entire sector as the cube design offered an easy entry point to get involved. When assembled, it was just this massive, six foot wall of detailed cubes that builders from all over the world poured their hearts into. No expense was spared, no minifig out of place, and no detail left out.

Blake Foster’s train can be seen behind the right support.

The original dream of the warehouse was a simple exterior facade of cubes. But as the design and ideas flowed, the realisation that we weren’t building a display, but a full-fledged LEGO city emerged. It needed to make sense and stay connected with the other sectors, and this would be done through the addition of two transportation links—the road and the train were to be added inside the Docks. While this addition sounded good originally, later complications and revisions would make this one of the biggest challenges. On the onset, we had our ‘two stack’ configuration that had 32 stud-wide gaps to see inside

the warehouse, but it was later reconfigured to a ‘three stack’ layout to accommodate more builders. But this then came at the cost of only having 16-stud-wide gaps to even see the road and train inside—meaning the visibility on the inside was almost completely gone. Despite this, it in a sense worked in our favour. While partially obscuring some of our builders’ creativity, the build became the living, breathing super-scifi complex. This owes a special thanks to the extraordinary building efforts of a couple of contributors—Caleb Wagoner and Alec Doede—who built the infrastructure portion of the warehouse and its roof, respectively. These really “framed” the individual cube contributions by all our other members within the whole structure to let everyone shine. And despite being partially hidden by the outer layer of the Docks, I need to gush about the amazingly amazing building efforts of one builder, and the awesome locomotive he nestled inside the Docks.

Trains are Cool While we’ve seen lots of trains over the years as a LEGO community, I don’t think I’ve seen a train layout where the track was roughly four feet above the table. I guess there’s a reason why trains aren’t this elevated in normal train layouts! It’s hard enough to make a train run smoothly on a table, let alone four feet up on a table—LEGO stud tolerances add up after four feet of brick! Hindsight is 20/20. This caused no shortage of problems for our team during assembly on site—problems that were patiently troubleshooted by the cybertrain master himself, Blake Foster. Blake, after designing the most technically complex train on a LEGO building level (seriously, just look at it), climbed in the middle of the display during set-up to troubleshoot and get his train working—only for it to still be partially obscured by cubes sitting in front. In any other collab, the train would have been front and centre, but for New Hashima, it was just part of the city. It’s the simple idea of dreaming of building a real city—where you wouldn’t really see all the train, but only in the important parts! Thankfully, Blake understood—and his train was still impressive enough to take the win as Best Train at Brickworld Chicago.

Top of the Docks: Octan Tower & Si-Town Two of the most impressive contributions we had to tie our sector together were the Si-Town Apartments by the other Simon, Simon Leoff, and the Octan Corporate Headquarters by Casey McCoy. The former was an interchangeable, pod-shaped apartment complex that stood as the highest overall point in the entire New Hashima display. This other, better Simon flew his entire intricate topper in a suitcase Octan Tower and Si-Town. from Germany! It required a lot of rebuilding on site, but it was simply beautiful. The latter topper was made by Octan-enthusiast and Chicago-native Casey with his double-wide topper. This tower was inspired by the real-world skyscraper Taipei 101 and adorned with Corporate Security Guards. While the Docks section had the fewest toppers for any sector, given it’s particular ‘one big building’ approach, it did interestingly have the tallest point of the collab with Si-Town (despite being the lowest table) as well as the largest topper by footprint (64x64 studs). These two towers added that extra flair and lore 34

Speaking of Blake, here he is at work.

needed to bring our full vision to life. Special shout-out to these two for going the extra distance to take New Hashima to the skies!

Can’t See the Sea Wall

Of all the contributions, the one that was most overlooked and overhidden was Adam Myers’ Sea Wall. This huge grey blanket was a massive undertaking with a specific purpose. While it might not be apparent in person or online, the four sectors that comprised New Hashima were actually set up on four custom tables that were all at different heights. Docks was the shortest at one “cube” off the floor, “04: Old City” was two “cubes” off the floors, the original “Sector 08” was three “cubes”, and the “02: Inner City” was four.

Adam Myers’ Sea Wall.

This presented an interesting problem on how to join the different sections visually. The simple answer would just do nothing and move the warehouse closer. The crazy, New Hashima way was to build a massive 256 stud long Sea Wall, and then instantly cover up 176 studs of it with The Warehouse. (Note: the original plan wasn’t as wasteful, with the aforementioned original ‘two stack’ configuration of the warehouse, but it was another casualty of the New Hashima craziness.) However, the wall did serve another critical function beyond just hiding the table heights. Despite being one of the most time consuming elements to set up, the wall ensured that both the road and the functional train could run in both Docks and Inner City by constructing a bridge on top of the wall. We mentioned how hard trains are to set up on just a flat table, but now we’re doing it four feet off the table on one section, one foot off the table in another section, and there’s a tiny 32 gap bridge that was needed. And for extra fun, there’s a roadway under the train bridge—and another train running under that bridge! The Sea Wall was the figurative and literal bridge between the Inner City and the Docks.

The Docks in the dark.

The End Dream

The whole New Hashima build and experience was a true dream come true. The folks we gathered built something that, to this day, is beyond anything I could have dreamt up alone. Setting it up, sitting there on the floor for hours, in both light and dark, and just basking in its literal glow was surreal... ...and what truly set this collaborative apart was that everyone’s contributions were necessary. The overwhelming detail packed into every cube, topper, or ship, made this feel and actually be a real city. Most collabs are optimised for the public to see everything. We built a real, minifigure-sized city where, due to the packed and dense nature, you couldn’t see everything! You’d never dream to plan a collab to build things that can’t be seen. The magic of New Hashima was that you wouldn’t think of having something that wasn’t completely fleshed out—even if the only people that can see and enjoy it are the people setting up the next layer. In truth, no, this was not the dream build I originally had in mind. I never dreamed big enough for New Hashima. I couldn’t have dreamed big enough for New Hashima. And I thank every single contributor that exploded that dream, understood the vision, and championed the “You Only New Hashima Once” (#YONHO) spirit. We did something awesome that I will never forget. Simon doesn’t dream of Electric Sheep. But he now dreams of New Hashima.

A Cyber-Slice of Life:

Photographing New Hashima Article and Photos by Michael Willhoit

The beauty of a display like New Hashima is that there is no one way to correctly look at and appreciate it. Some MOCs are intended to be viewed from only one angle; others can be viewed from many. In the case of New Hashima, how do you approach photographing a display that not only can, but must be viewed from every angle to fully take it in? With a project as massive, yet as ephemeral as New Hashima, there were a lot of things to consider when approaching the photography. Displays like this are what inspire

the community and move the hobby forward, so properly documenting them to share with others in the community—particularly when there is no certainty that they may ever be displayed in the same capacity again—is important. Heck, Stefan even cites being inspired by BroLUG’s Cyberpocalypse collaborations at BrickFairs 2013 and 2014 as one of the reasons he chose to start New Hashima in the first place. What we share with the community has a profound impact on the LEGO landscape, and photography is a core part of that process. When I took photos for the BrickFair 2022 iteration of New Hashima, I spent almost eight hours straight trying to take as many pictures as I could, knowing that this was a uniquely special display that the world needed to see. I captured just about every detail I could point a lens at, and was left with thousands of photos. However, at Brickworld 2023, with a display at least three times the size, I knew that we would need a different approach. Fortunately, there were many others in the group that brought their cameras this time, and in the end we had plenty of photos (and videos, thanks TJ!) between all of us. Because we had so many more people dedicating their time to taking photos at Brickworld, I got to dedicate more of my own to capturing a lot of unique and

artistic angles to really emphasize the details of the display; the kind of photography I like the most. Don’t get me wrong, clear overview shots of whole displays are important and necessary, but what’s really exciting to me is framing shots that completely immerse you in the environment that’s been created, free of people walking by in the background, the convention hall, and anything not built out of LEGO. I loved finding the cinematic scenes in the larger city, and with New Hashima, shots like this were absolutely everywhere. With dozens of individuals who all packed their own incredible details into their sections of the display, there was no shortage of inspiration to be had; everywhere I looked, there were amazing little cyber-slices of life to capture, and I had a blast doing it. In a more general sense, one of the biggest challenges to taking photos of any MOC in a convention hall is lighting. The ceilings are typically high at large 37 LEGO conventions

like Brickworld, meaning the main sources of light (overhead fluorescent lights) are far away from the subject. And when I say main sources of light, I really mean the only sources of light; there aren’t typically any windows or other light sources to help brighten your subject in a large convention hall. If you know anything about photography, you know that there are three main factors that determine your exposure: shutter speed (how long light is exposed on the sensor), aperture (how wide the opening, or aperture of your lens is), and ISO (the sensitivity of the sensor). When you have a dimly lit environment, you essentially have three options: lower the shutter speed, lower the aperture (i.e use a wider aperture), or raise the ISO. You can do a combination of these things together, but each has a unique effect on the final shot. Lowering the shutter speed means that your camera will need to be much more stable while your camera is taking the exposure—otherwise you will have a blurry final photo. Lowering the aperture will result in a narrower depth of field, meaning less of your photo is in sharp focus. Raising the ISO will create a grainier/noisier image, which is often undesirable in a final shot, particularly in digital photography. There are a lot of different approaches to this challenge of a balanced exposure, but my solution was to use as low of a shutter speed as possible in order to keep the ISO relatively low (I used 400 for most of my

photos), and adjusted the aperture as necessary to create the desired depth of field, but typically kept it low to let as much light into the lens as possible. Because I did a lot of very close detail shots, I used lenses primarily with a longer focal length (i.e a longer lens), which creates an even narrower depth of field, making the aperture adjustments important, depending on how much of the surrounding area I wanted to capture in sharp focus. This also made using a tripod essential for my photography, since I was using both a low shutter speed and a longer lens. I also used a timer on my camera to

eliminate any camera shake from me touching the camera when using the shutter; a long exposure’s worst enemy is camera movement! Because of my chosen combination of camera settings and equipment, I got a lot of high quality, compositionally interesting photos, but the time to take each photo was quite a lot longer than you might expect. For every photo I took, I needed to 1) find the area that I wanted to capture on the display, 2) adjust the tripod to get the proper height, angle, and distance from the subject, 3) adjust the camera settings to get the correct exposure (most of the time I kept the settings the same and adjusted as needed to save time), 4) press the shutter and take my hands off the camera, 5) wait for the timer to count down and the exposure to capture, and 6) check the results and reshoot as needed. This meant that I would probably end up taking fewer photos in the long run, so I needed to be strategic about which areas I captured, potentially taking certain angles to combine multiple elements that I wanted to photograph into a single shot. Things get even more complicated when you take out the lights completely. During World of Lights at Brickworld—the absolute highlight of such an elaborately lit display—the darkness in the hall allowed for every LED, digital screen, and inch of EL wire in New Hashima to be highlighted in all of its futuristic, neon glory. While there was enough light from the display itself to light the subjects I wanted to photograph, the lack of ambient light in the hall meant an even longer process for each individual photo, and with a limited amount of time to capture this once-in-a-lifetime display before the lights came back on, I needed to be shooting constantly and as quickly as possible. Taking photos in a display already as immersive as New Hashima was almost like doing street photography in a real, life-size city, just on a smaller scale. And, in some photos, you might even be convinced that they are real cities at first before taking a closer look. I’ll use this as an opportunity to strongly advocate for the use of lighting effects in your own builds, because New Hashima absolutely transformed when the lights went out. The city felt alive, and areas that may not have stood out before became the center of attention once illuminated, changing your perspective as a viewer completely. Some areas became vibrant, glowing seas of neon light, while others became dark, gritty silhouettes against the rest of the city: a perfect demonstration of the cyberpunk genre and aesthetic. From a photographer’s perspective, the increased contrast between light and dark, and all of the changes to the scenery that were created from it, were an absolute joy to play around with. I poured my heart and soul into documenting this display both of the years that I contributed to it, and I hope that my photos can help transport you there in spirit. It wasn’t easy trying to pack all of my camera equipment, my cubes, and other bits for the display, and everything else I needed for my trip into two suitcases to take on an airplane across the country, but I think the end results made it more than worth it. There is no better feeling in building than knowing that someone else was inspired by your work, and I know that my photos, as well as the photos of many others, will be instrumental in inspiring so many builders down the line.

Building

Music and LEGO: New Hashima at night. Photo by Tyler Newman.

Prologue: The Mistakes of my Youth

I was a budding, young TFOL embarking on an ambitious collaboration with my best friend for Brickworld 2013—Hershel’s Farmhouse from The Walking Dead Season 2. Somewhere along our many build sessions set to Ed Sheeran’s LEGO House, the idea was hatched to play The Walking Dead’s title theme alongside our homestead, projecting from the inside out. Seemed logical enough: set the tone for our build and grabbed the attention of our audience. Only one problem in hindsight: we looped a 1 minute and 40 second song.

Crafting the Sonic Landscape of New Hashima (abridged) Article by Casey McCoy Originally published on BrickNerd.com on 7/21/23 Photos by Casey McCoy and Tyler Newman

Herschel’s Farmhouse, from the second season of The Walking Dead. Photo by Casey McCoy.

We left that title song on repeat for nearly four days straight. Our kind, GBCtroubleshooting, neighboring AFOLs never said anything throughout the duration of the show, but in hindsight, I can’t imagine they ever wanted to hear that tune or look at a zombie ever again. Despite being a decade ago, the cringe never goes away. Time does not heal all wounds. Lesson Learned: If you have a sonic component looping for your build that’s not purely ambiance (clapping, cheering, sound effects, etc.), have a musical loop of at least over ten minutes. This is for the sanity of yourself, your fellow builders, and the public attendees. Turn it off when you leave the hall for the night. Too much of a good thing and you’ll be sick of it eventually. That begs the question: why add music to your build at all? How do you do it right?

Music in LEGO Builds There are a lot of good-intentioned reasons to add music to your LEGO display. It can: • Add another dimension of the human senses for your art to be experienced through • Grab the attention of your audience, whether fellow AFOLS or the public (especially if it’s from popular culture) • Set tone, ambiance, and feeling • Communicate a story element efficiently in an otherwise difficult scenario

Listening to the mix! Photo by Tyler Newman.

A daylight look at New Hashima. Photo by Tyler Newman.

However, implementation should be measured in both thoughtfulness (e.g. is it a superfluous addition to a build that doesn’t truly need it?) and volume (e.g. am I going to peeve off everyone by staging a rave in the display hall?). This is the golden rule I learned, to have some self-awareness and basic respect for your fellow displayers. Now a decade later, I could finally redeem the sins of my past. Enter: New Hashima.

Setting the Mood for a Finished Build In New Hashima’s case, the display oozes its own unique array of subcultures with hundreds of stories, scenes, and freeze-frame moments across the Docks, Inner City, Corporate Plaza, and Old City. Especially if the build is larger and commands presence, the ambiance and vibe of the world you’re creating is almost demanding to be experienced with every human sense. And with New Hashima clocking in at ~160 square feet and 13 feet tall, it needed to be allencompassing. While members were encouraged to add their own sound effects (sirens, horns, chatter, announcements, etc.) with the speakers implemented on many of the video screens distributed to collaborators, no song structure yet carried the feeling of New Hashima city.

So when given the chance to design the aural component of the New Hashima Chicago display, I couldn’t care about my Octan skyscraper anymore: the playlists were the new priority. And by standing on the shoulders of major cultural landmark films, shows, and video games, the stage was set to build out the sonic palette of the gritty, cynical world of LEGO cyberpunk dystopia.

Picking the Genre in a Cyber-Sea of Micro-Games I stumbled upon synthwave music as a genre in college while a part of my own band. While learning about music production on Youtube, I found Tim from The Midnight breaking down The Comeback Kid, and the rest was history. I spiraled down the micro-genre rabbit hole, each artist getting more obscure than the last. Try keeping the differences between chillwave, darksynth, dreamwave, outrun, and retrowave straight (spoilers: you can’t). However, between them all, my favorites included layered synths, driving bass lines, extended saxophone solos, gated snares—effectively ’80s revivalism on steroids. From there, the love for the music only grew, and I knew in early 2023 it would be a starting point for a lot of the music of New Hashima.

Dockside at New Hashima. Photo by Tyler Newman.

Since the genre is so diverse, much of the music that may seem obvious, such as the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack for CD Projekt Red’s highly-anticipated game, just wouldn’t work. The feel is more darksynth with industrial sounds—something that tonally doesn’t work with all the myriad of scenes in New Hashima and the plucky LEGO aesthetic. At the end of the day, LEGO is a kid’s toy, and this would be displayed for children and families. Plus, in a large hall, the heavy emphasis on bass would likely become muddled and become a generic wall of sound. So while the minor-key misery may have been right up our alley, the music needed to go in a different direction. Additionally, as a seasoned Brickworld alum going into my 11th show, I knew that The World of Lights completely changes the feeling of the builds in the dark. In the same way, I immediately thought the music should reflect the newly created atmosphere of harsh shadows and dimly lit corridors in the seedy New Hashima world. New Hashima needed not one soundtrack, but two.

Upon These Rocks I Shall Build My Playlists I’m a sucker for a good playlist. Road trips, late night gaming sessions, afterparties—made or broken on the quality of a playlist. To start building out a robust playlist, like a BroLUG/New Hashima Cube Frame, the soundtracks needed a strong, “core” song to build its identity that all other songs could build

Working on the walkway. Photo by Tyler Newman.

on or orbit loosely. While other songs may incorporate other sonic elements, they should fall in the same sonic category while not sounding repetitive. To do this, I picked a song that is vital to the playlist—a song that the soundtrack wouldn’t be the same without. It should encapsulate the playlist itself while the rest of the songs build upon its themes. When building your own, try and extract the following: • What emotions or feelings does this song evoke? • Broadly: What is the song like? Fast or slow (BPM—beats per minute)? Bass or treble heavy? • What key instruments are used? Synthesizers? Wind instruments? Guitars?

A closer look at some detail in the city. Photo by Tyler Newman.

Call it a Day Mix Since two playlists would be developed, one was labeled “Day” and the other “Night.” For the New Hashima Day Mix, Blade Runner Blues by Vangelis from Blade Runner (1982) was the obvious choice as used by Stefan and the New Hashima Team at BrickFair Virginia 2022. This ten-minute synth-driven piece of neo-noir ambiance perfectly set the tone for the build with the definitive cyberpunk song. To build out the playlist, and not just loop Blade Runner Blues, it led to the following: What emotions or feelings does Blade Runner Blues evoke? Mystery, reflection, speculation, bleakness, cynicism, a calming presence with a twinge of subtle tension, mildly hopeful at times. Broadly: what is the song like? Fast or slow (BPM)? Bass or treble heavy?

Slow BPM, mostly treble with some key bass insertions. Really takes its time. Treble heavy.

What key instruments are used? Synthesizers? Wind instruments? Guitars? Synthesizers. Other instruments used in the Blade Runner soundtrack include: piano, guitar, and other orchestral instruments would be close sonic cousins (gamelan, glockenspiel, gong, snare drum, timpani, and tubular bells). While other songs could stray away from some of these components, the rest of the playlist should flow in line with the similar fundamentals as the “core” song. Based on this, some touchstone music stood out. I set a target running time of about two hours, which should be plenty to keep things interesting and dynamic. Even with the new additions, I stuffed Blade Runner Blues back in a few more times, as the ten-minute run time is very dynamic, and would ground the other songs while changing from track to track. We closed out with some last few interludes of peaceful, melancholic synth.

Burning “The Midnight” Oil Mix

Another nighttime view. Photo by Tyler Newman.

Knowing that World of Lights would be a completely different atmosphere altogether, I knew the feeling of the music needed to be dangerous, enthralling, enticing, and high energy. In essence: it needed to be hype. The first song that jumped out at me came from seeing The Midnight live in March of 2022: Neon Medusa. This driving, halloween-inspired track was the first song they opened with and for good reason—it gets the crowd going. I knew it had to be Track One on the playlist and become the New Hashima theme song for the week. To round out the running time and come in around two hours (the standard time slot for World of Lights at Brickworld), I filled it out with similar high energy tracks from adjacent artists.

Synthesizing it All Together As the final tracks were slotted into place, the playlists were complete with some minor tweaking. I like to cycle through it multiple times, rearrange tracks, and check for dynamism from song to song so there’s an overall balance to the playlist. It all came together shortly before midnight on Friday of Brickworld as I crouched inside the display, fired up my guitar amp, and let Neon Medusa roar. New Hashima was alive and singing.

Epilogue

While your musical tastes, favorite Some activity in the city. Photo by Tyler Newman. building style, or process in crafting a playlist may differ, hopefully in peeling back the curtain for this particular use case, you learned something helpful in displaying a build of your own with music. At Brickworld Chicago 2023, we received a lot of comments from the public and attendees on how the musical component of the build really elevated the viewing experience to a whole new level. I sat next to Dave from BrickNerd on the hard cement floor for almost a half hour as we gazed up at the display and let the music wash over us, transporting us to the cyberpunk city. That, and I don’t think we pissed off anyone in the process. I had finally done it: I righted my wrongs. That made it all that much more rewarding after carefully obsessing over track selection, track order, and belaboring over excluding favorite songs. YONHO (You Only New Hashima Once!)!

New Hashima Tracks You can listen to the playlists that were done for New Hashima here:

Day Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlis t/7iGRQnJyPb6vxjRtjaL2JV?si=6709bd 3e045a4459 Apple: https://music.apple. com/us/playlist/new-hashima%E7%AB%AF%E5%B3%B6-day/pl.ukv9lgDLC7Wr9aK7 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ playlist?list=PLhTyyW5YiZt9UFtyZU4zfp4DIioOrG3x

Night Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist /72sIwiUCLvvvyhxKqj4s5m?si=d693e2 cb63024dde Apple: https://music.apple. com/us/playlist/new-hashima%E7%AB%AF%E5%B3%B6-night/ pl.u-GgA5yybhZ84RaXZ Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?l ist=PLhTyyW5YiZt9xqA8DWzD4Y8cs OZ51z-cf

The local monorail makes its rounds. Photo by Tyler Newman.

Spinner Speeder Parts List

(Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Part Color Description 1 3024.dat Black Plate 1 x 1 1 26047.dat Black Plate 1 x 1 Round with Horizontal Handle on Side 2 32802.dat Black Slope Brick 45 4 x 1 Double Inverted with Open Centre 1 47905.dat Black Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Two Opposite Sides 5 54200.dat Black Slope Brick 31 1 x 1 x 0.667 1 93609.dat Black Arm Skeleton with Horizontal Clip Bent 56.31 2 96910.dat Black Tile 1 x 2 Chamfered with 2 Top Indentations 1 3069b.dat Trans-Black Tile 1 x 2 with Groove 1 96910.dat Reddish Brown Tile 1 x 2 Chamfered with 2 Top Indentations 1 3024.dat Trans-Red Plate 1 x 1 4 3023.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 2 3069b.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 2 with Groove 1 3070b.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 1 with Groove 2 3679.dat Lt Bluish Grey Turntable 2 x 2 Plate Top 2 4733.dat Lt Bluish Grey Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Four Sides 3 11477.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 2 x 1 1 15068.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 2 x 2 x 0.667 1 15712.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 1 with Clip (Thick) 6 25269.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1 x 1 Corner Round 2 26047.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 1 Round with Horizontal Handle on Side 1 30031.dat Lt Bluish Grey Minifig Handlebars 1 35480.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1 x 2 with Round Ends and 2 Open Studs 2 35787.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 2 x 2 Triangular 1 48729b.dat Lt Bluish Grey Bar 1.5L with Clip with Truncated Sides and Hole in Shaft 1 61409.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 0.667 Grille 1 92946.dat Light Bluish Grey Slope Plate 45.73 2 x 1

New Hashima Spinner Speeder Design by Jordan Jivkov from BrickNerd

For the New Hashima collab, I wasn’t able to participate and send any LEGO builds physically, so I wanted to create a design for something small that anyone could build and populate in their cubes to add life to the vibrant cyberpunk city. That’s when I came up with the spinner speeder idea: a bike template that could be changed into whatever color was needed. I packed the speeder with as much detail as I could in a small space, utilizing every stud and only 47 pieces (including the stand). One of my favorite parts of the build is using two 3679 turntable plates to create the iconic spinner front resembling a wheel. Finally, remember to customize your minifigure to match your bike! I chose minifigure parts with a cyberpunk vibe and goggles, imagining him to be speeding throughout the city to make a delivery in Sector 02, then stop in the Old City for a nefarious meeting, then back home for a sushi dinner. This speeder bike was so much fun to design, and I hope you’ll enjoy building this model to bring a little part of New Hashima home with you.

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

ANNOUNCER: We take you now to Canalitos, Guatemala. (CROWD NOISES . . . POLICE SIRENS)

Building

BURKS: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Jared Burks again, at a farm in Canalitos, Guatemala. Professor Smith and myself made the eleven miles from Guatemala in ten minutes. Well, I... I hardly know where to begin, to paint for you a word picture of the strange scene before my eyes, like something out of a modern “Arabian Nights.” Well, I just got here. I haven’t had a chance to look around yet. I guess that’s it. Yes, I guess that’s the... thing, directly in front of me, half buried in a vast pit. Must have struck with terrific force. The ground is covered with splinters of a tree it must have struck on its way down. What I can see of the... object itself doesn’t look very much like a meteor, at least not the meteors I’ve seen. It looks more like a huge cylinder. It has a diameter of... what would you say, Professor Smith? SMITH (OFF-MIKE): What’s that? BURKS: What would you say... what is the diameter?

n 101: io t a iz m o t s u Minifigure C ks

Jared Bur y b y h p a r g o SMITH: About Photthirty meters. Article and

BURKS: About thirty meters... The metal on the sheath is... well, I’ve never seen anything like it. The color is sort of yellowish-green. Curious spectators now are pressing close to the object in spite of the efforts of the police to keep them back. They’re getting in front of my line of vision. Would you mind standing to one side, please? POLICEMAN: One side, there, one side. BURKS: While the policemen are pushing the crowd back, I will recount what locals have told me, as I am unable to get them to the microphone while the police are performing crowd control. Locals describe hearing something long before seeing anything. A hissing sound. Like this: sssssss... then multiple people claim to have seen a kinda greenish streak and then zingo! Somethin’ smacked the ground. Shaking them from their chairs! Locals state they were more riled than frightened. I wish I could convey the atmosphere... the background of this... fantastic scene. Hundreds are arriving with flashlights in a field in back of us. Police are trying to rope off the roadway leading to the farm. But it’s no use. They’re breaking right through. Everyone is pointing flashlights towards the enormous spot on the pit where the object’s half buried. Some of the more daring souls are now venturing near the edge. Their silhouettes stand out against the metal sheen. (FAINT HUMMING SOUND)

One man wants to touch the thing... he’s having an argument with a policeman. The policeman wins.... Now, ladies and gentlemen, there’s something I haven’t mentioned in all this excitement, but now it’s becoming more distinct. Perhaps you’ve caught it already on your radio. Listen: (LONG PAUSE)... Do you hear it? It’s a curious humming sound that seems to come from inside the object. I’ll move the microphone nearer. (PAUSE) Now we’re not more then twenty-five feet away. Can you hear it now? Oh, Professor Smith! SMITH: Yes, Mr. Burks? BURKS: Can you tell us the meaning of that scraping noise inside the thing? SMITH: Possibly the unequal cooling of its surface. BURKS: I see, do you still think it’s a meteor, Professor? SMITH: I don’t know what to think. The metal casing is definitely extraterrestrial... not found on this earth. Friction with the earth’s atmosphere usually tears holes in a meteorite. This thing is smooth and, as you can see, of cylindrical shape. BURKS: Just a minute! Something’s happening! Ladies and gentlemen, this is terrific! This end of the thing is beginning to flake off! The top is beginning to rotate like a screw! The thing must be hollow! VOICES: She’s movin’! Look, the darn thing’s unscrewing! Keep back, there! Keep back, I tell you! Maybe there’s men in it trying to escape! It’s red hot, they’ll burn to a cinder! Keep back there. Keep those idiots back! (SUDDENLY THE CLANKING SOUND OF A HUGE PIECE OF FALLING METAL) BURKS: Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed... Wait a minute! Someone’s crawling out of the hollow top. Someone or... something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous blue disks... are they eyes? It might be a face. It might be... (SHOUT OF AWE FROM THE CROWD)

BURKS: Good heavens, something’s wriggling out of the shadow like a humanoid feline, black as night. Now it’s another one, and another. One has an orange head, oh, another greenish yellow head. They look like jaguars to me. There, I can see the thing’s body. It’s large, large as a bear and it glistens like wet black leather. It is removing what appears to be a helmet, but that face, it... ladies and gentlemen, it’s indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it, it is so terrifying. The eyes are electric blue and nearly glow in the darkened field. The mouth is filled with sharp teeth with saliva dripping from them that seems to quiver and pulsate. The monster or whatever it is can hardly move. It seems weighed down by... possibly gravity or something.

The thing’s raising up. The crowd falls back now. They’ve seen plenty. This is the most extraordinary experience. I can’t find words... I’ll pull this microphone with me as I talk. I’ll have to stop the description until I can take a new position. Hold on, will you please? I’ll be right back in a minute. (FADE INTO PIANO) ANNOUNCER: We are bringing you an eyewitness account of what’s happening on the farm, Canalitos, Guatemala. (MORE PIANO) We now return you to Jared Burks at Canalitos, Guatemala. BURKS: Ladies and gentlemen (Am I on?). Ladies and gentlemen, here I am, back of a stone wall that adjoins the destroyed farm, perhaps a garden. From here I get a sweep of the whole scene. I’ll give you every detail as long as I can talk. As long as I can see. More national police have arrived. They’re drawing up a cordon in front of the pit, about thirty of them. No need to push the crowd back now. They’re willing to keep their distance. The captain is conferring with someone. We can’t quite see who. Oh yes, I believe it’s Professor Smith. Yes, it is. Now they’ve parted. The Professor moves around one side, studying the object, while the captain and two policemen advance with something in their hands. I can see it now. It’s a white handkerchief tied to a pole... a flag of truce. If those creatures know what that means... what anything means!... Wait! Something’s happening! (HISSING SOUND FOLLOWED BY A HUMMING THAT INCREASES IN INTENSITY) BURKS: A humped shape is rising out of the pit. I can make out a small beam of light against a mirror. What’s that? There’s a jet of flame springing from the mirror, and it leaps right at the advancing men. It bats them with a, a, a, purple paw?!? What did I see? It is so dark. Good Lord, they’re tumbling away! (SCREAMS AND UNEARTHLY SHRIEKS) BURKS: Now the whole field’s in disarray. (EXPLOSION) The woods... the barns... the gas tanks of automobiles... it’s spreading everywhere. It’s coming this way. About twenty yards to my right... (CRASH OF MICROPHONE … THEN DEAD SILENCE) ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to continue the broadcast from Canalitos, Guatemala. Evidently there’s some difficulty with our field transmission. However, we will return to that point at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, we have a late bulletin from San Diego, California. Professor Indellkoffer, speaking at a dinner of the California Astronomical Society, expressed the opinion that the explosions on Mars are undoubtedly nothing more than severe volcanic disturbances on the surface of the planet. We now continue with our piano interlude. (PIANO... )

Where will you take this story next? Will they be hostile? Will they continue to exhibit cat-like play behavior? What will the one with the bow tie, mechanical arm, and power paw do? What is the purpose of the lime green, tiger orange, and purple colors? Why different shoulder boards? This is the power of LEGO; we get to use our imagination to “Just Imagine.” Yes, I have stepped outside of LEGO by creating a new head, but with that I have also embraced as much of LEGO as possible to allow me the ability to create something of my own. I have clearly drawn inspiration from Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds, but I have modified it and not finished the story for you, so you can make your own.

Painting the helmet.

What I did create was a race called Ocelotl, which means Jaguar. It is also a day on the Aztec calendar associated with the god Tezcatlipoca, who is the god of the night sky, ancestral memory, and of time. He is associated with change brought about by conflict, and the Ocelotl is a day to honor brave warriors. So choosing these details, I have a foundation to create these Jaguar-like alien figures that are returning to Earth. The jaguar’s natural stealth, power, and speed made them the perfect symbol for one of the Aztec’s elite warrior class. Known as the Jaguar warriors, this elite corp of fighters were made up of distinguished veterans who had proven themselves in battle. Adorning in clothing designed to mimic the natural spots of the jaguar, these fearsome warriors were one of the two most revered bodies of soldiers in the Aztec Empire—the other being the Eagle Warriors. The ferocity of the jaguar and its namesake warriors also lead the Jaguar warriors to become associated with one of the two creator gods, Tezcatlipoca.

The Ocelotl party with accessories.

A look at the lime helmet.

So in my story, the Ocelotl are returning to speak to the descendants of Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I, the ruler of Tikal, and who they left in charge when they last visited and helped establish culture here on Earth. My research even went into the various temples at Tikal, and when they were created versus when others were created, that could set up a rivalry between two visiting alien races. There is the Tikal Pyramid (c700), Temple of the Masks (c700), Temple of the Great Jaguar (c740-750), and finally the Temple of the Jaguar Priest (c810), all created for the Ocelotl. However, there is the Temple of the Two-Headed Serpent (c741) that is the other alien race. We could have our visitors destroy this Temple. The point of giving you all this information is that the better you create a backstory, the more you can build out the characters and decide what type of weapons, armor, designs, etc. they need. In the last issue, we covered the creation of the Jaguar head, and in this one I finished them off by painting their eyes an electric blue. This is to get the effect of having blue eyes under the helmets, and to tie the eye color to the torso designs. I have five colors in this design, and used a color pallet generating website to help me choose them after setting a few foundational colors; black, purple, and orange. The site came up with lime green and something akin to Maersk blue; given that this is a special LEGO color, I was sold on this color pallet.

I wanted the torso design and shoulder design to be minimal. These are hidden warriors and they shouldn’t stand out too much. As such, I designed a muscle pattern in the Maersk blue and then overlaid a collar of white (they are still cats). I integrated the lime and orange, but only slightly. I then added two shoulder designs that were influenced by Mayan art. From here I decided to use as many LEGO elements as possible, and given the elite nature of this fighting force, they would not remove their veterans from the field, but augment them, as they have the most experience. So the most senior member, who is also the diplomat, wears the bow tie. He found this by studying the most intelligent member of Earth’s culture as beamed into space: Bill Nye the Science Guy. Figuring this must be the latest fashion trend, he has donned a bow tie in addition to his mechanical arm, power paw, and supply belt. The Supply belts are the unionizing element; this is a military group, and standard issue is key. This is also why elements like shoulder boards were repeated in various colors to denote different factions. I think the lime group are the pilots. The purple are grunts and the orange perhaps the officers, but this would conflict with the bow tie wearing member, so I am not really sure. The belts had to have a notch cut out of the back to allow the tail to fit. This had to be cut into the belt and not just on the surface. Please be careful, as it would be easy to cut yourself doing this.

Inspiration art from a stock art service.

Arm and torso graphics.

The lime parts were airbrush painted to get color uniformity, and I am debating clear-coating all the painted parts, including the heads, to make them a touch glossier, especially after writing the above story. Time will tell if I do so in time for the article. I hope you enjoyed the Ocelotl and their creation. I had fun making them and learned a bit too. It doesn’t take a big step to make something new, and sometimes just finding a merger between a couple of genres can be quite a bit of fun! You can view Jared’s webpage by going to http://www. fineclonier.com/ or scanning this QR code! Ocelotl figures completed.

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

On sale:

5 each!

You Can Build It MINI Build MINI Diorama:

Ezra Bridger’s Tower Design and Instructions by Christopher Deck

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

Baseplate

Qty Color 14 Olive-Green 1 Tan

Part 15279.dat 89523.dat

Base Cone First Shell

Qty Color Part 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 36841.dat 1 Dark-Bluish-Gray 41682.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 4070.dat 1 Dark-Bluish-Gray 30395.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3623.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 3795.dat 2 Dark-Bluish-Gray 61409.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 45301.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 2413.dat

Base Cone Second Shell

Hello everybody! I am glad to be back for another great building session with you! We are back within the animated TV series Star Wars Rebels for this issue, as there are still so many new things to discover. One of the first scenes we see of the series is a view of the wide grassy plains of the planet Lothal. And from these plains, Ezra’s tower rises up steeply into the skies. This tower is a recurring element throughout the entire series. Although it looks pretty simple and straightforward, its construction holds some challenges for us! The base cone shape is very long-drawn, making it difficult to find suitable bricks. Fortunately we have those really long 16x4 triple wedge pieces (part number 45301). Using two of them as outer shells with some SNOT-work in the inside creates a perfect long-drawn cone. To stabilize the construction, we use 1x1 brackets (part number 36841) connected by normal jumper plates (for example part number 3794b). The round top section with the habitation unit is built studs-down with a 6x6 dish (part number 44375a). This will give us a perfect railing around the platform. I hope you will enjoy building this iconic scene from the series! Have fun, and see you next time!

Qty Color Part 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 36841.dat 4 Light-Bluish-Gray 4070.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3023.dat 2 Light-Bluish-Gray 3021.dat 2 Dark-Bluish-Gray 61409.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 32000.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 45301.dat

Top and Tips

Qty Color Part 1 Dark-Bluish-Gray 2569.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 6222.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 3960.dat 1 Light-Bluish-Gray 44375a.dat 1 1

Light-Bluish-Gray 64644.dat Light-Bluish-Gray 3794b.dat

Dark-Bluish-Gray 24482.dat

Black

32062.dat

Description Plant Grass Stem Plate 10 x 10 Octagonal with Hole and Snapstud Description Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 1 Down Bracket 2 x 2 - 1 x 2 Up Centred Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Hook with Towball Plate 1 x 3 Plate 2 x 3 Plate 2 x 6 Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 0.667 Grille Wedge 4 x 16 Triple Curved Wing 4 x 9 Description Bracket 1 x 1 - 1 x 1 Down Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight Plate 1 x 2 Plate 2 x 3 Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 0.667 Grille Technic Brick 1 x 2 with Holes Wedge 4 x 16 Triple Curved Description Antenna 8H Whip Brick 4 x 4 Round with Holes Dish 4 x 4 Inverted Dish 6 x 6 Inverted with Hollow Studs Minifig Telescope Plate 1 x 2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud Spike2.4L with 4 Fins with Bar 0.4L Technic Axle 2 Notched Tip

1 2

Community

IdahoLUG:

Building Pandora! IdahoLUG’s Pandora layout.

Article and Photography by Greg Fastabend and Shawn Denowh

In July 2022, the LEGO Group made a call to the LEGO Fan community to submit ideas for an Avatar-themed display. The call was posted on the LEGO Ambassadors Network to all member organizations, and IdahoLUG’s Ambassador, Greg Fastabend, contacted his club to brainstorm ideas. A group was gathered who were interested in the project, which decided that their submission would be a fivesquare-foot diorama of Pandora, the moon that Avatar is set on. A proposal explaining what the club wanted to accomplish with their build and where they would display it was also drafted.

Some details of the layout.

A month later, after some revisions based on requests from the LEGO Group, IdahoLUG was selected from other applications to create an Avatar build! Design ideas and parts lists were to be submitted in one month, which required the club to quickly organize and plan the diorama. A message was sent to all of the ILUG members, asking them to design plants and animals that would be at home on Pandora. From there, a team was made to supervise and lead the design and build processes. As designs came in, they were evaluated for part availability and build stability in Stud.io (a LEGO building app).

The display under blacklight.

Leads were determined for different portions of the build: Flora, Fauna, Structure, Mural, RDA (Resources Development Administration), and Tree of Souls. A spreadsheet was started that would track all of the parts needed for the build. The spreadsheet was a massive undertaking that took every sub-model parts list, multiplied them, and passed the element list onto a final parts list based on LEGO element quantity. By this time, it was October, and Avatar was re-released. With the movie was an extended preview of the sequel The Way of Water. The preview focused entirely on an interaction between Jake and Neytiri’s son and a whale. With this new information, the Fauna lead launched into a sprint to design the whale. At about the same time, some of the leadership team met with Lightstorm Productions, the company behind Avatar. There, the leads presented designs and concepts for the build and also learned a synopsis of the movie plot. By the end of the meeting, the Lightstorm representative mentioned something to the effect of: “We like your proposal, but the movie is one-third land and two-thirds water. Is there any way to have the build reflect this?” A proposal to more than double the size of the build to accommodate the request was made (to the consternation of some of the build leadership team), which the representative loved. An extension of time was given to revise the parts list. It took two consecutive all-night sessions to complete the parts list for submission. The list was sent on October 25, 2022, and a short time later, the club received a message that listed nearly 200 of the requested elements which were no longer available. Another all-night session was done to find part substitutes for the list. Afterwards, it was

a matter of waiting. On January 31, 2023, eight pallets of LEGO parts arrived. Sorting began, placing parts for various sections of the build. Some parts were set aside for a fast-approaching event, Boise State University STEM Day—February 2! Minifigures, mini-Sampson mech parts, and mural parts for the background were taken to the event. The rest of the parts were moved to what became the construction site of the layout: Bricks and Minifigs Boise. The party room of the store was available for the build as long as the room was available for scheduled parties. This meant unpacking project work into the party room after hours and loading it back into storage at the end of build time, although there were occasions that the club could leave parts out in the room for a few days. Nearly all the work was done in weeknight and weekend sessions under the guidance of Shawn Denowh. Before each work session, he would prioritize the most pressing tasks, and as volunteers arrived, they would be assigned to them. It was during these sessions that many challenges arose and were dealt with. One part of the build that took a lot of attention was the Tree of Souls. The design of the Tree of Souls was done by Greg Fastabend, who was inspired by a tree stump created by Paulo Loro that was shown on the Brothers Brick website using the Technic Wide Tread (57518) in dark brown as bark. The texture was incredible, so this was a must for the tree. Unfortunately, the dark brown color was no longer available, so it was decided to go with Dark Bluish Gray, which ended up matching very well with the lavender leaves and Trans Dark pink elements.

The Tree of Souls.

The biggest challenge with the tree section of the build was making it look organic and refraining from using right angles. Initial designs of several prototype trunk structures using Technic beams and turntables at branch junctions to send branch structures off in different directions were made. A parts palette for the trunk, branches, and canopy was developed accordingly. All of this was done virtually, but other problems became apparent once the palette was eventually delivered. During construction, it was discovered that the larger the tree became, the more stress was put on the branch forks and the turntables. When the weight of the structure was too heavy, the turntables began to separate. Several redesigns were done to strengthen these areas to allow building to continue. Working with many variations of connecting the tread sections, it was discovered that varying the connection between one and two clips at angles allowed the creation of rings of different diameters to wrap the trunk and branches. Technic pins and axles throughout the trunk created anchor points for the upper branch structure and canopy. Upon completion of the trunk, work began on the canopy and upper branches. It was soon realized that the weight of the leaves exceeded the trunk strength again, and the tree began to fail. Another round of design improvements followed to further reinforce the base and allow the canopy construction to complete. By completion, the tree was over three feet wide and four feet tall when installed on the base structure, and took 70 hours to build.

An RDA lab overgrown with cover.

A final challenge immediately appeared when the tree was attached to the top of the base section. Once attached, the shifting weight of the tree when moved would peel the surface layer of the structure. Further reinforcement was required. After the tree was removed, it took a late night to completely rebuild the structure section to include Technic beams and locking pins to firmly join the top and bottom layers of the base to prevent the tree from pulling them apart. After reattaching, the root system was added along with landscaping around the base of the trunk. Finally, the scene was populated with hundreds of Na’vi minifigures. The Tree of Souls wasn’t the only challenge. The background murals designed by Peter Bumbarger had a support structure designed by Shawn Denowh that used Technic 15-stud long liftarms between the sides of the Technic base parts. Shorter 9-stud liftarms anchored the larger liftarms. There weren’t enough of the smaller liftarms sent, so liftarms from another section of the build were used instead. When these were used, the larger liftarms were used as diagonal supports, but this caused the mural to curve. Alternating the direction of the diagonal supports mitigated the curve.

The ocean Na’vi (Metkayina Clan) at their pods.

The biggest challenge, though, was the Mountain. Originally, the plan was to have the Mountain done by having its parts pump done in the first week, and handed off to ILUG member Matt Lincoln to add rockwork. However, it took a full 90 days to complete, with the upper half of the mountain having rockwork added in the last eight hours before their filming deadline from LEGO. Club member Laura Ultis took the base section home as soon as it was ready, and began to work on a conveyor system to take 1x1 clear water tiles to a waterfall at the top of the mountain. Multiple motors were used to run belts up a ramp system that would run around the interior of the build. Due to a mistake in the order spreadsheet, though, there were only enough parts for one conveyor belt. Additionally, due to a similar mix-up, of all the Technic brick that was planned for use for internal supports of the 18 base sections, only 1% was shipped. Laura had a fraction of the parts needed to complete the task as assigned, and worse, her team was unable to help due to personal commitments elsewhere. Not having the Mountain done threw the overall plan off. Instead of working out the build from the Mountain, building had to start on the eastern edge of the build and work back toward the Mountain. There were many times when bricks and elements were peeled off to be reapplied in new formations. Other members of the club came in to help Laura: Shawn worked at her house to help with the waterfall/Mountain. Several things were tried and failed, but in the end, they came up with a mostly functional design, and the unit was moved to rejoin the rest of the project. Some more complications were encountered, but Laura’s team was finally available to help. They helped locate and repair several things to get the waterfall working. These final changes were made within 24 hours of the video deadline.

More of Pandora, with the Tree of Souls and a waterfall in the distance.

The project was only successful due to the huge sacrifices made by the team leads and the over 100 local builders who came out to help meet the construction deadline. Everyone worked together, and the long hours greatly strengthened the ILUG’s friendships, and really changed the LUG for the better. It was so rewarding to see the reactions of others when they got to experience the build for the first time, and see the amazing things that can be created using LEGO bricks. You can see more of IdahoLUG’s work at their Instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/idaholug/ or by scanning this QR code.

Other feeds to see this layout and more can be found at spacetimebrickstudio: https://www.instagram.com/spacetimebrickstudio/ and shawndenowh5346: https://www.instagram.com/shawndenowh5346/

An AMP (Amplified Mobility Platform) leads some soldiers through Pandora’s jungle.

Simon Jarry’s

echo base hoth

Hoth Echo Base Diorama

Simon Jarry with his layout.

Article by Eloi Parizeau, Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars Photography by Simon Jarry Galactic greetings! We are Bantha Bricks: Fans of LEGO Star Wars. As administrators of the best LEGO Star Wars-themed group on Facebook, Eloi Parizeau, David Strenzler and Frank Averstegge witness amazingly creative builds by Star Wars fans worldwide on a nearly daily basis. This time, we are glad to introduce another talented MOC builder from Canada: Simon Jarry. It was a pleasure to speak to Simon about his latest design: Hoth Echo Base diorama.

Eloi Parizeau: How is it going Simon? The LEGO Star Wars community has known you for some time through the Bantha Bricks Facebook group, where you amazed us with your skilled Star Wars-inspired designs. Could you please introduce yourself and what you do? Simon Jarry: Hello, it’s going really well today, thank you Eloi. My name is Simon Jarry (jarrybrick), and I am the father of two young children. Ever since I was six years old, I’ve been a huge LEGO fan. I started with the LEGO Pirates and Castle. However, my passion for Star Wars only started when I was 30 years old. One day, while looking on Marketplace, I saw someone who wanted to trade a large part of their Star Wars collection for LEGO Pirates and ships. It was the trade of my life, ha-ha. Since that moment, I collect this theme and take good care of my loose pieces to create my own creations (MOCs). Would you say that Star Wars is your favorite theme, or are there others that we might not expect? Yes, currently my main interest is in the Star Wars theme. I’ve always been fascinated by the Star Wars Expanded Universe, its iconic characters and captivating spaceships. The ability to recreate iconic scenes and explore new stories through LEGO construction excites me immensely. In addition to my interest in Star Wars, I also have a very large and organized inventory of LEGO bricks. I took the time to sort my pieces according to their shapes, colors

Data File: Echo Base Echo Base was the facility established by the Rebel Alliance on the frigid planet of Hoth in the wake of the Battle of Yavin, so named due to its strange acoustics. Within a month of its establishment, the base was discovered by the Galactic Empire, which quickly invaded Hoth, forcing the Rebels to evacuate. Source: Wookiepedia.com

A view of the base hangar.

and sizes. It allows me to have an inventory at my fingertips when I want to bring my ideas to life. Why do you choose the LEGO brick as your medium of self-expression? What makes LEGO so special for you? From an early age, creating with LEGO became an essential part of my artistic development and my passion for building. LEGO bricks were my first tools to explore my creativity and turn my ideas into something concrete. Your latest build of a Hoth Echo Base diorama was remarkable. What inspired you to build that particular Hoth Echo Base diorama? I’m glad my creation of the Hoth Echo Base diorama got your interest. This achievement is the result of my passion for the Star Wars universe and a long-standing desire to bring this scene to life. The inspiration behind this creation goes back to one of my favorite moments in the Star Wars saga: the battle on the frozen planet of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back. Can you tell us a bit about the construction of your build? Did you use any special techniques? My model was very long and wide, which meant that during the whole construction period, I had to keep in mind its portability. One of the remarkable features of my creation was the presence of an electric element: a snowspeeder equipped with a train engine. I installed a train engine

An overhead look at the layout.

A lowered view with the speeder hood open.

The Rebels prepare for battle.

in a snowspeeder, allowing it to travel along hidden rails between AT-ATs on the battlefield. Additionally, I faced the challenge of working with bricks that had yellowed over time. To preserve the overall aesthetics of my model, I spent considerable effort to minimize the visibility of the yellowed bricks. Which of the design elements of your Hoth Echo Base diorama are your favorite?

The speeder drive engine revealed.

Princess Leia briefs the Rebel pilots.

70 70

I particularly appreciate the presence of my electric train circulating on my model. The second floor rooms of my creation are also a source of pride for me. I spent a considerable amount of time adding intricate detail to these spaces, using figurines and props. Each room tells a story. Can you tell us a bit more about your process of designing such an incredibly accurate draft of a Hoth Echo Base diorama and determining how it could be built? My process began with a research stage. I watched the Battle of Hoth scene in The Empire Strikes Back repeatedly to capture every detail. I also looked at internet images, screenshots, and artwork to make sure my design would look very similar to the one in the movie.

Did you freestyle build the design or did you use a computer design program to lay it out first? I have always favored the freestyle approach during my creations and I did not use any software for this project. That said, I’m trying more and more to familiarize myself with computer software for my future projects. While making this build, were there any moments when you felt stuck? If so, how did you overcome that obstacle? Ha-ha, it’s true that I’ve also encountered similar blocking moments as many creators of LEGO (MOC) constructions encounter. Two of the most common challenges are related to waiting for new parts and managing the budget. However, one specific challenge that marked my last creation was the heavy use of white pieces—unfortunately, white pieces tend to yellow over time. As an experienced builder, what advice would you give to someone who would like to build a Star Wars vehicle of their own? My advice would be to have fun first. Don’t go into building LEGO to outdo someone else, because every creation is unique. Each creation has beautiful and personal elements that reflect the person who designed it. For me, that’s LEGO, the ability to let your creativity run free and create something that looks like you.

Echo Base Command Center.

A snowspeeder traps an AT-AT with its tow cable while a scout walker advances on a crashed speeder.

A look at the side details of the speeder.

Are any instructions of your designs available to the public? If so, where can they be found? No, I did not create the instructions for this creation. Even if I was considering doing this project again, it would be completely different in design. I publish my project progress and the end result on my social networks: LSWQ on Facebook and Jarrybricks on Instagram. Do you have any final thoughts that you would like to share? As I said before, do not hesitate to embark on the creation of MOCs. Each creation is special and different; that’s what makes the magic of LEGO. You can create so many different things, the possibilities are endless. That’s what makes LEGOs so great and fun to use to build anything you can imagine.

Base defenses and generator. The Hoth landscape.

To see more amazing builds, cool contests and giveaways, and familyfriendly 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!

TwoMorrows Books Now Shipping!

PACIFIC COMICS COMPANION

WORKING WITH DITKO

JACK KIRBY’S DINGBAT LOVE

BEST OF SIMON & KIRBY’S

MAINLINE COMICS

CHRISTOPHER IRVING explores the superhero serials (1941-1952) of Superman, Captain America, Spy Smasher, Captain Marvel, and others, and the comic creators and film-makers who brought them to life! (160-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-119-6

STEPHAN FRIEDT & JON B. COOKE examine the independent that published KIRBY, ARAGONÉS, DITKO, ADAMS, GRELL, plus DAVE STEVENS’ Rocketeer!

JACK C. HARRIS recalls collaborating with STEVE DITKO on The Creeper, Shade, Demon, Wonder Woman, The Fly, & more, plus Ditko’s unused Batman design!

The final complete, unpublished Jack Kirby stories in existence: Two unused 1970s DC DINGBATS OF DANGER STREET tales, plus TRUE-LIFE DIVORCE & SOUL LOVE mags!

Collects JOE SIMON & JACK KIRBY’s 1954-56 series BULLSEYE (the complete run), plus all the Kirby FOXHOLE, POLICE TRAP, and IN LOVE stories, fully restored!

(160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-121-9

(128-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $24.95 (Digital Edition) $13.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-122-6

(176-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $43.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-091-5

(262-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $49.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-118-9

IT CREPT FROM THE TOMB

CLIFFHANGER!

TEAM-UP COMPANION OUR ARTISTS AT WAR AMERICAN TV COMICS (1940s-1980s)

THE LIFE & ART OF

DAVE COCKRUM

Digs up the best of FROM THE TOMB (the UK’s preeminent horror comics history magazine), with early RICHARD CORBEN art, HP LOVECRAFT, and more!

MICHAEL EURY examines team-up comic books of the Silver and Bronze Ages of Comics in a lushly illustrated selection of informative essays, special features, and trivia-loaded issue-by-issue indexes!

Examines US War comics from EC, DC COMICS, WARREN PUBLISHING, CHARLTON, and more! Featuring KURTZMAN, SEVERIN, DAVIS, WOOD, KUBERT, GLANZMAN, KIRBY, and others!

History of over 300 TV shows and 2000+ comic book adaptations, from well-known series (STAR TREK, PARTRIDGE FAMILY, THE MUNSTERS) to lesser-known shows.

GLEN CADIGAN’s bio of the artist who redesigned the Legion of Super-Heroes and introduced X-Men characters Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Logan!

(192-page paperback with COLOR) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $10.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-081-6

(256-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-112-7

(160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $27.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-108-0

(192-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $29.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-107-3

(160-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $27.95 HC: $36.95 • (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-113-4

REED CRANDALL

KIRBY & LEE: STUF’ SAID

TWO-FISTED COMIC ARTIST

JOHN SEVERIN

ALTER EGO COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS

Master of the Comics

Illustrator of the Comics

MAC RABOY

History of Crandall’s life and career, from Golden Age Quality Comics, to Warren war and horror, Flash Gordon, and beyond!

Presents JACK KIRBY and STAN LEE’s own words to examine the complicated relationship of the creators of the Marvel Universe!

Biography of the EC, MARVEL and MAD mainstay, co-creator of American Eagle, and 40+ year CRACKED magazine contributor.

Compiles the sold-out DITKO, KIRBY, and LEE issues, plus new material on each!

Documents the life and career of the master Golden Age artist of Captain Marvel Jr. and other classic characters!

(256-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $13.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-102-8

(176-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $26.95 (Digital Edition) $12.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-094-6

(160-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-106-6

(256-page COLOR SOFTCOVER) $35.95 (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-116-5

(160-page COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95 (Digital Edition) $14.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-090-8

AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES

FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER SERIES

documents each decade of comics history!

8 Volumes covering the 1940s-1990s

TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History. Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com

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

THE MAGAZINE FOR LEGO ENTHUSIASTS OF ALL AGES!

2023

BRICKJOURNAL magazine (edited by Joe Meno) spotlights all aspects of the LEGO® Fan Community, showcasing events, BRICKJOURNAL #82 BRICKJOURNAL #83 people, and models every issue, with off deep into space with the creations Celebrating Disney’s 100th anniversary contributions and how-to articles by top Blast in LEGO! Disney Castles with MARTIN of DANA KNUDSON and other top space builders worldwide, new product intros, builders, flyby the annual SHIPtember HARRIS and DISNEYBRICK, magical builds JOHN RUDY and editor JOE MENO, challenge, and see vehicles built for and more. Available in both FULL-COLOR FebROVERy challenge! Plus: Nerding Out by instructions to build characters, plus: print and digital editions. Print subscribers with BrickNerd, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, Nerding Out with BRICKNERD, AFOLs by step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can get the digital version FREE!

SUBSCRIBE! Six issues: 73 in the US $ 111 International • $29 Digital Only $

BRICKJOURNAL #80

BRICKJOURNAL #79

BRICKJOURNAL #81

by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS! It’s all the right stuff for LEGO fans!

Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS!

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

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

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

BRICKJOURNAL #78

BRICKJOURNAL #77

BRICKJOURNAL #76

Explore the CASTLE theme with builders GUILLAUME GREUZARD and AMENK SACHO! And building castles with some of the best castle builders in the LEGO fan community! Plus: Nerding Out with BRICKNERD, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, step-by-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS! Edited by JOE MENO.

Create Brick Art with builders ANDREAS LELANDER and JACK ENGLAND! Learn how to build mosaics and sculptures with DEEP SHEN and some of the best LEGO builders around the world! Plus: AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

Celebrate Spring with AMADO PINLAC and JAMES ZHAN’s botanical LEGO® builds! Learn how to grow a brick garden of your own with some of the best builders in the LEGO community! Plus: AFOLs by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more! Edited by JOE MENO.

LEGO® PHOTOGRAPHY, with guest editor SHELLY CORBETT! SCOTT MURPHY on how he brings his whimsical ideas to life, WENDY VERBOOM photographs LEGO minifigures meeting nature, and ARVIN COLOMA shows how to photograph LEGO in unexpected places! Plus BRICKNERD, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, building instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, and JARED K. BURKS’ Minifigure Customization!

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

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

BRICKJOURNAL #75

BRICKJOURNAL #74

BRICKJOURNAL #73

BRICKJOURNAL #72

BRICKJOURNAL #71

The fast-changing world of MECHA! Learn how to build mechs with some of the best mecha builders in the world: BENJAMIN CHEH, KELVIN LOW, LU SIM, and SAM CHEUNG! Plus: AFOLs (“Adult Fans of LEGO”) by cartoonist GREG HYLAND, step-by step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

Amazing LEGO® STAR WARS builds, including Lando Calrissian’s Treadable by JÜRGEN WITTNER, Starkiller Base by JHAELON EDWARDS, and more from STEVEN SMYTH and Bantha Bricks! Plus: Minifigure Customization by JARED K. BURKS, AFOLs by GREG HYLAND, stepby-step “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK (including a LEGO BB-8), and more! Edited by JOE MENO.

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

LEGO® COLOR! A mosaic by Bricknerd’s DAVE SCHEFCIK, CAZ MOCKETT and her monocolor habitats, flowers and other creations by INEZ VAQUEZ, STEVEN SMYTH’s intricate Star Wars builds, “AFOLs” by GREG HYLAND, step-bystep “You Can Build It” instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

LEGO® photography with Toy Photographers Blog founder SHELLY CORBETT, and photographers ASTRID HEYLAND, NATASJA VOS, and MARCO ZANCONI offer their favorite tips and tricks to make your creations look great! Plus, STEVEN SMYTH’s Star Wars builds, instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, Minifigure Customization with JARED K. BURKS, and more!

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99

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

#70: Islands, Hot Rods, and Outer Space!

#69: LEGO Starship builders!

#68: Women of LEGO building!

#67: Best friends & Disneyland Paris!

#66: LEGO brick photography!

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

#65: Happy holiday building!

#64: Classic LEGO themes re-imagined!

#63: Undersea LEGO building!

#62: LEGO Trains!

#61: LEGO figure building!

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

#60: Spooky LEGO building!

#59: Star WarsTMthemed builders!

#58: LEGO warbirds, past and present!

#57: Microscale LEGO building!

#56: Life-size LEGO!

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

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

#55: LEGO heads & tails!

#54: Top secret LEGO!

#53: Video games LEGO-style!

#52: LEGO Certified Professionals!

#51: LEGO Steampunk!

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

#50: double-size Anniversary Book! (144-page paperback) ONLY $10 (Digital Edition) $8.99

#49 & earlier: $ 3 EACH 2.99 DIGITAL $

#49: LEGO Technic! $3

#48: LEGO Mecha! $3

#47: Undersea LEGO! $3

#46: LEGO Trains! $3

#45: Female LEGO builders! $3

#44: LEGO Theme Park issue! $3

#43: LEGO Gaming! $3

#42: LEGO Education! $3

#41: Spacethemed LEGO! $3

#40: LEGO Mecha! $3

#39: LEGO Dinosaurs! $3

#38: LEGO Cool Cars & Hot Rods! $3

#36: Microscale LEGO building! $3

#35: History in LEGO bricks! $3

#34: LEGO Comics! $3

#33: LEGO Robots! $3

#32: LEGO Art! $3

#31: LEGO bricks with character! $3

#30: LEGO Architecture! $3

#29: TECHNIC Building! $3

#28: The LEGO Movie! $3

#27: LEGO Iron Builder contest! $3

#26: LEGO Creatures! $3

#25: LEGO Medieval Castle building! $3

#24: LEGO Trains! $3

#23: LEGO Star WarsTM! $3

#22: LEGO Plane building! $3

#21: LEGO Car building! $3

#20: LEGO Superheroes! $3

#19: LEGO Events issue! $3

#18: Japanese LEGO creations! $3

#17: LEGO Space War! $3

#15: LEGO Mecha! $3

#13: Event issue! $3

#12: Back-to-school LEGO sculptures! $3

#11: LEGO Racers! $3

#9: LEGO Disney sets! $3

#5: LEGO Mindstorms! $3

#3: FIRST® LEGO League Festival! $3

GET THE NINE ORIGINAL DIGITAL ONLY ISSUES! Before becoming a print magazine, there were nine DIGITAL EDITIONS of BRICKJOURNAL, which are also available for $2.99 each! (NOTE: These are DIFFERENT ISSUES than the ones shown above.)

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

store@twomorrows.com

MINIFIGURE CUSTOMIZATION #1 AND #2

YOU CAN BUILD IT, BOOK 1 and BOOK 2

JARED K. BURKS shares his knowledge of the techniques he uses to alter the lovable LEGO® Minifigure into any character you can imagine! #1 offers step-by-step tutorials on decal design and application; color alteration; custom part modification and creation; plus tips on minifigure displays and digital photography to capture your custom figures in the best light! #2 presents advanced techniques: advanced decal application; custom part modification and creation; 3-D printing; advanced painting techniques; lighting figures with LEDs or EL wire; tips on minifigure displays; and a Gallery from top customizers, with their best tricks and tips!

From the producers of BRICKJOURNAL MAGAZINE comes a new series of books, compiling STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS by the LEGO fan community’s top custom builders! BOOK ONE is for beginning-to-intermediate builders, and features instructions for LEGO creations from a fire engine and Christmas ornaments to miniscale models from a galaxy far, far away! BOOK TWO is for intermediate-to-advanced builders, with more detailed projects to tackle, from a miniscale yellow castle and miniland people, to a mini USS Constitution! Together, these books take you from novice to expert builder, teaching you key building techniques along the way!

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

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

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.

Community Ads Advertise With Us! RetroFan & BrickJournal Ad Rates: Back cover or inside cover: $1000 ($900 for two or more) Full-page interior: $800 ($700 for two or more) Half-page interior: $500 ($425 for two or more) Quarter-page interior: $300 ($250 for two or more)

Back Issue • Comic Book Creator Alter Ego • Jack Kirby Collector: Back cover or inside cover: $800 ($700 for two or more) Full-page interior: $600 ($500 for two or more) Half-page interior: $300 ($250 for two or more) Quarter-page interior: $150 ($125 for two or more) AD SIZES: COVERS & FULL-PAGE: 8.375” wide x 10.875” tall trim size, add 1/8” bleed. (7.625” x 10.125” live area.) HALF-PAGE: 7.625” x 4.875” live area (no bleeds). QUARTER-PAGE: 3.6875” x 4.875” live area (no bleeds).

Call or e-mail for frequency discounts! Send ad copy and payment (US funds) to: TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 919-449-0344 E-mail: twomorrow@aol.com

We accept check, money order, and all major credit cards; include card number and expiration date.

These rates are for digital ads supplied (PDF, JPEG, TIF, EPS, or InDesign files accepted). No agency discounts apply.

Tusen takk! Danke Vielmal! Mange Tak! Cheers! Thank You! Tausend Dank!

Last Word

The New Hasima display at Brickworld Chicago 2023 is the culmination of four years of passionate work pursuing a crazy idea to revive a piece of FOL history—an idea inspired by a group of builders interested in unapologetically creating the type of things they were interested in, and no one else was building. Many thanks should go to the members of BroLUG who came together first and poured their hearts into a build that continues to inspire the LEGO community over ten years later. Another important thank you goes to my friend and LUG mate Peter Bradberry. Peter was my first building partner on New Hashima and helped me lay the groundwork for what the project would become. I also must give a huge thank you to Simon Liu. Without Simon backing the idea and realizing its potential, New Hashima would never have stood at Brickworld. Simon poured his heart into this build and brought all of his friends along for the ride. Simon has been a guiding light for the community for so long and I’m forever grateful for his support of the project. Next I’d like to thank the Cyber Master himself, Michael Willhoit. His passion for pushing the envelope of what is possible with LEGO, and his dedication to putting the punk in our cyberpunk display, has had an amazing effect on the direction of the group. To Mason Ricks, thank you. Mason brought such an amazing positive energy to the build and helped us bring together a team of individuals who were dedicated to building on an insane level, and doing it all for fun. To the entire team that made up the New Hashima Daemons, thank you! You brought such amazing energy to the convention hall. Everybody in the room felt it, and I will be chasing that energy for the rest of my life. For a few days, we came together to create something for no other reason than to prove to ourselves we could. There wasn’t even a guarantee we would succeed, but that didn’t stop us. We were ready to succeed or fail together, and by inspiring and helping each other, we created something beautiful. The city only stood for two days, but the memories made will be with me for forever.

Stefan Formentano and Simon Liu.

Stefan Formentano

The Builders Behind New Hashima:

Adam Myers • Adrian Drake • Aidan Bone • Alec Doede • Autumn Oles • Bart • Ben Grayson • Ben Lefke • Blake Foster • Bram Lambrecht • Brendan Mauro • Brian Bell • Brian O’Leary • Caleb • Caleb Inman • Caleb Wagoner • Cam Peacock • Carter Baldwin • Casey McCoy • Cecilie Fritzvold • Chris Bryne • Chris Roberts • Cody Purviance • Conner Lill • Dan Lachcick • Daniel Church • Daniel Nette • Daniel Zimmerman • Finn • Francis Weimelt • Geneva • George Hawes • Isaac W • Jack S. • Jackson McDiarmid • James L • Jan Stampfli • Jesse Mims • Joe • Joey Klusnick • Jonah Schultz • Jordan Wolfman • Joseph Zawada • Josh • Kelly Chow • Kevin Darke • Kevin Murney • Kevin Wise • Kyle Vrieze • Lee • Liam M Norris • Lorin Fairchok • Luke Lyons • Markus Rollbohles • Mason Ricks • Meredith • Micah • Michael Higgins • Michael Willhoit • Nannan Zhang • Nate Brill • Nick Della Mora • Noah Hemmings • Oshi • Peter Bradberry • Peter Myers • Riley M • Rob Klingberg • Rolf Holbrook • Ryan • Ryan McBryde • Scotty Whitesell • Sean Mayo • Simon Leoff • Simon Liu • Stefan Formentano • Stephen Joo • Steven W. Howard • Taylor Jones • Ted Andes • Theo • Tobias Whelan • Victor Fernandez • Will Hafner • Zach Bean • Zach C

And this one’s a wrap! Hope you had fun reading through this issue—we go a completely different direction next issue with a look at minifigures! Til then, build on!!

Joe Meno

19942024 UPDATE #1

TwoMorrows 3

www.twomorrows.com • store@twomorrows.com

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

Rising from the depths of history comes an ALL-NEW examination of the 20th Century’s best horror comics, written by PETER NORMANTON (editor of From The Tomb, the UK’s preeminent magazine on the genre). From the pulps and seminal horror comics of the 1940s, through ones they tried to ban in the 1950s, this tome explores how the genre survived the introduction of the Comics Code, before making its terrifying return during the 1960s and 1970s. Come face-to-face with the early days of ACG’s alarming line, every horror comic from June 1953, hypodermic horrors, DC’s Gothic romance comics, Marvel’s Giant-Size terrors, Skywald and Warren’s chillers, and Atlas Seaboard’s shocking magazines. The 192-page full-color opus exhumes BERNIE WRIGHTSON’s darkest constructs, plus artwork by FRANK FRAZETTA, NEAL ADAMS, MIKE KALUTA, STEVE DITKO, MATT FOX, WARREN KREMER, LEE ELIAS, BILL EVERETT, RUSS HEATH, THE GURCH, and many more. Don’t turn your back on this once-in-a-lifetime spine-chiller—it’s so good, it’s frightening! (192-page SOFTCOVER) $31.95 • (Digital Edition) $15.99 ISBN: 978-1-60549-123-3 • SHIPS MARCH 2024!

ALTER EGO #188

All characters TM

ve owners.

Double-size 25th Anniversary Edition, edited by ROY THOMAS

A special DOUBLE-SIZE (160-PAGE) ISSUE with twin (flip) covers—one for Marvel, one for DC—celebrating 25 years of ALTER EGO at TwoMorrows! The Marvel side includes DAVID ARMSTRONG’s Comic-Con mini-interviews with JOHN BUSCEMA, MARIE SEVERIN, JIM MOONEY, & GEORGE TUSKA—plus “STAN LEE’s Dinner with ALAIN RESNAIS,” as annotated by SEAN HOWE! On the DC side: ARMSTRONG’s short talks with CARMINE INFANTINO, JOHN BROOME, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, JOE KUBERT, & MURPHY ANDERSON—plus a special photo-feature on GARDNER FOX, featuring his extended family! All this, plus FCA, MR. MONSTER’S COMIC CRYPT, and more! SHIPS JUNE 2024! (160-page COLOR magazine) $21.95 (Digital Edition) $9.99 Counts as TWO ISSUES toward your subscription!

BACK ISSUE # 150 Edited by MICHAEL EURY

Back Issue #150 is our oversized 100-Page Super Spectacular sesquicentennial edition, featuring Batmen of the 1970s! Exploring the work of Bronze Age Batman artists Bob Brown, Dick Giordano, Irv Novick, Frank Robbins, Walter Simonson, Alex Toth, & Bernie Wrightson. Plus: revisit Frank Miller’s first Batman story! SHIPS MARCH 2024! (100-page COLOR magazine) $12.95 (Digital Edition) $5.99

Get the WORLD OF TWOMORROWS anniversary book • Just 20 @ www.twomorrows.com $

ALTER EGO #189

ALTER EGO #190

ALTER EGO #191

BACK ISSUE #151

BACK ISSUE #152

JOHN ROMITA tribute issue! Podcast recollections recorded shortly after the Jazzy One’s passing by JOHN ROMITA JR., JIM STARLIN, STEVE ENGLEHART, BRIAN PULIDO, ROY THOMAS, JAIMIE JAMESON, JOHN CIMINO, STEVE HOUSTON, & NILE SCALA; DAVID ARMSTRONG’s mini-interview with Romita; John Romita’s ten greatest hits; plus FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, & more!

MITCH MAGLIO examines vintage jungle comics heroes (Kaänga, Ka-Zar, Sheena, Rulah, Jo-Jo/Congo King, Thun’da, Tarzan) with art by LOU FINE, WILL EISNER, FRANK FRAZETTA, MATT BAKER, BOB POWELL, ALEX SCHOMBURG, and others! Plus: the comicbook career of real-life jungle explorers MARTIN AND OSA JOHNSON, FCA, Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

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

DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES! A who’s who of artists of NEIL GAIMAN’s The Sandman plus a GAIMAN interview, Sandman Mystery Theatre’s MATT WAGNER and STEVEN T. SEAGLE, Dr. Strange’s nemesis Nightmare, Marvel’s Sleepwalker, Casper’s horse Nightmare, with SHELLY BOND, BOB BUDIANSKY, STEVE ENGLEHART, ALISA KWITNEY, and others! KELLEY JONES cover.

MARVELMANIA ISSUE! SAL BUSCEMA’s Avengers, FABIAN NICIEZA’s Captain America, and KURT BUSIEK and ALEX ROSS’s Marvels turns 30! Plus: Marvelmania International, Marvel Age, Marvel Classics, PAUL KUPPERBERG’s Marvel Novels, and Marvel Value Stamps. Featuring JACK KIRBY, KEVIN MAGUIRE, ROY THOMAS, and more! SAL BUSCEMA cover.

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

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

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

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

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

BACK ISSUE #153

BACK ISSUE #154

BACK ISSUE #155

BACK ISSUE #156

KIRBY COLLECTOR #91

BIG BABY ISSUE! X-Babies, the last days of Sugar and Spike, FF’s Franklin Richards, Superbaby vs. Luthor, Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine, Baby Snoots, Marvel and Harvey kid humor comics, & more! With ARTHUR ADAMS, CARY BATES, JOHN BYRNE, CHRIS CLAREMONT, SCOTT LOBDELL, SHELDON MAYER, CURT SWAN, ROY THOMAS, and other grownup creators. Cover by ARTHUR ADAMS.

BRONZE AGE NOT-READY-FORPRIMETIME DC HEROES! Black Canary, Elongated Man, Lilith, Metamorpho, Nubia, Odd Man, Ultraa of Earth-Prime, Vartox, and Jimmy Olsen as Mr. Action! Plus: Jason’s Quest! Featuring MIKE W. BARR, CARY BATES, STEVE DITKO, BOB HANEY, DENNY O’NEIL, MIKE SEKOWSKY, MARK WAID, and more ready-for-primetime talent. Retro cover by NICK CARDY.

THIS ISSUE IS HAUNTED! House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Unexpected, Marvel’s failed horror anthologies, Haunted Tank, Eerie Publications, House II adaptation, Elvira’s House of Mystery, and more wth NEAL ADAMS, MIKE W. BARR, DICK GIORDANO, SAM GLANZMAN, ROBERT KANIGHER, JOE ORLANDO, STERANKO, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and others. Unused cover by GARCÍA-LÓPEZ & WRIGHTSON.

BRONZE AGE GRAPHIC NOVELS! 1980s GNs from Marvel, DC, and First Comics, Conan GNs, and DC’s Sci-Fi GN series! With BRENT ANDERSON, JOHN BYRNE, HOWARD CHAYKIN, CHRIS CLAREMONT, JOSÉ LUIS GARCÍA-LÓPEZ, JACK KIRBY, DON MCGREGOR, BOB McLEOD, BILL SIENKIEWICZ, JIM STARLIN, ROY THOMAS, BERNIE WRIGHTSON, and more. WRIGHTSON cover.

30th Anniversary issue, with KIRBY’S GREATEST VICTORIES! Jack gets the girl (wife ROZ), early hits Captain America and Boy Commandos, surviving WWII, romance comics, Captain Victory and the direct market, his original art battle with Marvel, and finally winning credit! Plus MARK EVANIER, a colossal gallery of Kirby’s winningest pencil art, a never-reprinted SIMON & KIRBY story, and more!

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

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

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

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

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

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #35 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #36 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #37

RETROFAN #34

RETROFAN #35

An in-depth look at the life and career of writer/editor DENNY O’NEIL, and part one of a career-spanning interview with ARNOLD DRAKE, co-creator of The Doom Patrol and Deadman! Plus the story behind Studio Zero, the ’70s collective of JIM STARLIN, FRANK BRUNNER, ALAN WEISS, and others! Warren horror mag writer/ historian JACK BUTTERWORTH, alternative cartoonist TIM HENSLEY, & more!

TOM PALMER retrospective, career-spanning interview, and tributes compiled by GREG BIGA. LEE MARRS chats about assisting on Little Orphan Annie, work for DC’s Plop! and underground Pudge, Girl Blimp! The start of a multi-part look at the life and career of DAN DIDIO, part two of our ARNOLD DRAKE interview, public service comics produced by students at the CENTER FOR CARTOON STUDIES, & more!

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

Take a ride with CHiPs’ ERIK ESTRADA and LARRY WILCOX! Plus: an interview with movie Hercules STEVE REEVES, WeirdOhs cartoonist BILL CAMPBELL, Plastic Man on Saturday mornings, TINY TIM, Remo Williams, the search for a Disney artist, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Saturday morning super-hero Space Ghost, plus The Beatles, The Jackson 5ive, and other real rockers in animation! Also: The Addams Family’s JOHN ASTIN, Mighty Isis co-stars JOANNA PANG and BRIAN CUTLER, TV’s The Name of the Game, on the set of Evil Dead II, classic coffee ads, and more! With ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, MARK VOGER & MICHAEL EURY.

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Summer 2024

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

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

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

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

New from TwoMorrows!

ALTER EGO #186

ALTER EGO #187

BACK ISSUE #149

KIRBY COLLECTOR #89

KIRBY COLLECTOR #90

Focuses on great early science-fiction author EDMUND HAMILTON, who went on to an illustrious career at DC Comics, writing Superman, Batman, and especially The Legion of Super-Heroes! Learn all about his encounters with RAY BRADBURY, MORT WEISINGER, JULIUS SCHWARTZ, et al—a panoply of titans! Plus FCA, MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more!

’80s INDIE HEROES: The American, Aztec Ace, Dynamo Joe, Evangeline, Journey, Megaton Man, Trekker, Whisper, and Zot! Featuring CHUCK DIXON, PHIL FOGLIO, STEVEN GRANT, RICH LARSON, SCOTT McCLOUD, WILLIAM MESSNER-LOEBS, DOUG MOENCH, RON RANDALL, DON SIMPSON, MARK VERHEIDEN, CHRIS WARNER & more superstar creators. Cover by NORM BREYFOGLE!

KIRBY CONSPIRACIES! Darkseid’s Foourth World palace intrigue, the too-many attempted overthrows of Odin, why Stan Lee hated Diablo, Kang contradictions, Simon & Kirby swipes, a never-reprinted S&K story, MARK EVANIER’s WonderCon 2023 Kirby Tribute Panel (with MARV WOLFMAN, PAUL S. LEVINE, and JOHN MORROW), an extensive Kirby pencil art gallery, and more!

WHAT IF KIRBY... hadn’t been stopped by his rejected Spider-Man presentation? DC’s abandonment of the Fourth World? The ill-fated Speak-Out Series? FREDRIC WERTHAM’s anti-comics crusade? The CIA’s involvement with the Lord of Light? Plus a rare Kirby interview, MARK EVANIER and our other columnists, a classic Simon & Kirby story, pencil art gallery, & more! Cover inks by DAMIAN PICKADOR ZAJKO!

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

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

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

(84-page FULL-COLOR magazine) $10.95 (Digital Edition) $4.99 • Summer 2024

Spotlights ANGELO TORRES, the youngest and last of the fabled EC Comics artists—who went on to a fabulous career as a horror, science-fiction, and humor artist for Timely/Marvel, Warren Publishing, and MAD magazine! It’s a lushly illustrated retrospective of his still-ongoing career— plus FCA (Fawcett Collectors of America), MICHAEL T. GILBERT in Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, and more

RETROFAN #32

RETROFAN #33

COMIC BOOK CREATOR #33 COMIC BOOK CREATOR #34

Featuring a profile of The Partridge Family’s heartthrob DAVID CASSIDY, THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN, LEGO blocks, Who Created Mighty Mouse?, BUCKAROO BANZAI turns forty, Planet Patrol, Big Little Books, Disco Fever, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

Meet the Bionic Duo, LEE MAJORS and LINDSAY WAGNER! Plus: Hot Wheels: The Early Years, Fantastic Four cartoons, Modesty Blaise, Hostess snacks, TV Westerns, Movie Icons vs. the Axis Powers, the San Diego Chicken, and more! Featuring columns by ANDY MANGELS, WILL MURRAY, SCOTT SAAVEDRA, SCOTT SHAW, and MARK VOGER. Edited by MICHAEL EURY.

STEVE GERBER biographical essay and collaborator insights, MARY SKRENES on co-creating Omega the Unknown, helping develop Howard the Duck, VAL MAYERIK cover and interview, ROY THOMAS reveals STAN LEE’s unseen EXCELSIOR! COMICS line, LINDA SUNSHINE (editor of early hardcover super-hero collections), more with MIKE DEODATO, and the concluding segment on FRANK BORTH!

DAN JURGENS talks about Superman, Sun Devils, creating Booster Gold, developing the “Doomsday scenario” with the demise of the Man of Steel, and more! Traverse DON GLUT’s “Glutverse” continuity across Gold Key, Marvel, and DC! Plus RICK ALTERGOTT, we conclude our profiles of MIKE DEODATO, JR. and FRANK BORTH, LINDA SUNSHINE (editor of DC/Marvel hardcover super-hero collections), & more!

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

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

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

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

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

2024 RATES

SUBSCRIPTION RATES

Print subscribers get the digital edition free!

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

Poly mailer, backing board

ECONOMY US

Faster delivery, rigid mailer

PREMIUM US

Non-US orders, rigid mailer

INTERNATIONAL

DIGITAL ONLY

$73 $97 $73 $53 $53 $73

$100 $130 $100 $70 $70 $100

$111 $147 $111 $78 $78 $111

$29 $39 $29 $19 $19 $29

TwoMorrows. The Future of Comics History. TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA

No print issue

Phone: 919-449-0344 E-mail: store@twomorrows.com Web: www.twomorrows.com Don’t miss exclusive sales, limited editions, and new releases! Sign up for our mailing list:

https://groups.io/g/twomorrows

Download our new 2024 Catalog of all our available books and back issues! https://www.twomorrows.com/media/TwoMorrowsCatalog.pdf

PRINTED IN CHINA

RETROFAN #31

Magic memories of ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY for the 60th Anniversary of TV’s Bewitched! Plus: The ’70s thriller Time After Time (with NICHOLAS MEYER, MALCOLM McDOWELL, and DAVID WARNER), The Alvin Show, BUFFALO BOB SMITH and Howdy Doody, Peter Gunn, Saturday morning’s Run Joe Run and Big John Little John, a trip to Camp Crystal Lake, and more fun, fab features!