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Lego

This tag is associated with 87 posts

Review: The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide, 2nd Edition

Years ago I purchased a copy of The Unofficial LEGO User’s Guide by Allan Bedford. I was a big fan of that book when it came out because I was able to learn quite a few building techniques from it and found it to be an indispensable resource when I was trying to teach myself things like how to build a sphere when building The Green Lantern Power Battery. No Starch Press has now come out with a second edition of the book.

The LEGO Micro TARDIS

At SXSW this year, I spent time at the Apress Books booth to promote a book I’ve written but has not yet been released. Since the projects in the book would take too long to build, I brought my LEGO TARDIS to display, but I wanted a new creation that I could build at the table, as well as building some of my video game characters. So for SXSW, I designed the LEGO micro TARDIS.

The LEGO Post-It Note Avengers

Earlier this summer, to promote the Avengers movie, Post-It Notes released their templates for the Avengers. I had seen these on my friend Gregory’s Facebook page, and my first thought was that I could make these out of LEGO bricks.

BrickFair 2012 Recap

For the fourth year running, I returned to Chantilly, VA to attend BrickFair, a convention of adult fans of LEGO (AFOL) to convene and display their original creations built out of LEGO bricks. This year, I was able to spend four full days to experience everything BrickFair had to offer, as well as volunteer and speak again.

Review: LEGO Heavy Weapons

From the age of thirteen, Jack Streat has been creating realistic weapons out of LEGO and posting them to the Internet. His YouTube videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views each and has created a following online. Now, at the age of 17, No Starch Press has released a book on how to create some of his LEGO creations in LEGO Heavy Weapons, where the reader can “build working replicas of four of the world’s most impressive guns.”

Review: The Art of LEGO Mindstorms NXT-G Programming

In the six years since LEGO Mindstorms NXT was released (and four years since NXT 2.0), LEGO has released little beyond the basic kits for building robots. The problem is that the system is so versatile and they have released such limited documentation, which is where books and websites come in. One such book is The Art of LEGO Mindstorms NXT-G Programming by Terry Griffin.

LEGO Final Fantasy Red Mage

When I built the Final Fantasy Black Mage out of LEGO, I was inspired to continue. I followed it up with the White Mage, but in the original Final Fantasy game, there were three mage types. Since I had built the first two, I could not leave out my friend Mike’s favorite, the Red Mage.

LEGO Final Fantasy White Mage

When I was inspired to build the Black Mage from Final Fantasy, I wasn’t content to stop there. As any fan of the classic NES RPG knows, the power comes from the party and not the individual character. With that knowledge, it was obvious that the Black Mage would need support from the White Mage.

LEGO Final Fantasy Black Mage

Over the years, I’ve created quite a few characters from the 8 bit Nintendo era out of LEGO. From Mario to Link to Samus Aran and others, I’ve built some of my favorites, but one group of characters that I’ve been drawn to but never built until now were any of the mages from Final Fantasy. The first one to be immortalized in brick is the Black Mage.

Review: The Cult of LEGO

There have been a few books about LEGO and its adult community, and even a TED Talk about it. The problem with each of them is that they are not written by Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOLs), but by outsiders who are looking in. Some have received praise, but they just come across as exploitive of a community that is not very mainstream. The Cult of LEGO is the first book written by an AFOL for adults.