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The Magazine for ® Enthusiasts of All Ages!

Issue 56 • April 2019

$8.95 in the US Building Life-Size LEGO®! Helen Sham on Living Large

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

Instructions AND MORE! 1 82658 00368 5 Issue 56 • April 2019

Contents From the Editor...... 2 People Malin Kylinger’s World Inside of Me...... 3 Helen Sham: Building Life-Size...... 10 Builder Spotlight: Eric Ong...... 18 Building is Half the Battle: Reimagining G.I. Joe Through LEGO...... 23 You Can Build It: Cobra C.L.A.W...... 32 Building Ralf Langer: Building The Future is Bright...... 36 Djorde Dobrosavljevic’ : Character Builder!...... 40 You Can Build It: The Miner...... 44 You Can Build It: House Mouse...... 51 You Can Build It: Krennic’s Personal Shuttle...... 56 BrickNerd’s DIY: Neuralizer...... 60 Minifigure Customization 101: It is Good to Have Friends!...... 64 Community An Abridged History of Little Guys... in Space!...... 69 Community Ads...... 78 Last Word...... 79 AFOLs...... 80 Malin Kylinger’s creation, World Inside of Me, is a great example of LEGO build- ing becoming art. There’s many levels to the model, from the sculptural aspects of the face to the landscaping of the foreground and background. It’s both beautiful People and dark, wondrous and ominous. With all of these visual elements mixed to make a complex visual setting, Malin’s inspiration was actually pretty simple. She bought the two collectible minifigures (Genie and Ghost) at the same time in April 2018 and wanted to do something with them because they have similar “leg”parts and can be seen as opposites. Malin Kylinger’s Malin wanted them to stand on the shoulders of a person as the classic devil and angel. Having had both physical and mental problems for the last twenty years, she wanted to build something to represent some of the duality she felt. World Her LEGO hobby saved her these last couple of years, and the community has made her see that she was not alone in feeling that there can be a duality in one’s personality. Malin has one side that is very social and energetic, but also has a more intro- Inside verted personality where she loves to sort and build LEGO. But it’s not just that simple; she wanted to build something that other people could connect to and interpret in a way that is meaningful for them. When publishing the photos of this build, she saw that the different landscapes could represent the imagination: of Me the sea of creative force that can be both light and dark. So when reading this, one can understand that in her view the landscape and the symbolic value of the build is worth the most; the face is only the setting for her message. Article and Photography But that doesn’t mean that one can’t just by Malin Kylinger appreciate the build for the face.

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

Getting Nosy Eye to Eye After making a rough sketch of her For the eye Malin used the mudguard (98282) as an eyelid and to create a marked model, she began building. Starting rounded edge. She also used this part when building the dragon creature in a with the nose, she used pretty previous build: The Legend of Anendra. In the eye there are 1x1 cheese slopes on straightforward SNOT techniques the sides, with the iris being held in place by a arm. The upper eyelash was with studs facing forward. originally set by the eye as seen above, but was later mounted from the head jewelry, as seen below.

Lip Service The lips are just cheese slopes on the side and are only held in place by the pieces around them. She very carefully pushed the tan cheese slopes halfway in so that the transition is smoother. 4 5 People

Helen Sham: Building Life-Size! Article and Art by Helen Sham 10 11 Some of Helen’s models. First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Joe Meno, editor of BrickJournal, who invited me back for a third interview. This is an honor that my work will be used on the cover of this edition of the magazine. I started building things at an early age (around five or six years old), when I received a big box of LEGO from an uncle as a present. I would spend hours and hours working on it. I can’t remember exactly what kind of vehicle it was anymore. Soon after I completed it, I disassembled it and used all those LEGO pieces to build my own toys, which included airplanes, houses, race cars, etc... As I grew up, I left my LEGO pieces behind... until a couple years ago. Initially, like many others, I purchased and assembled different LEGO sets that were available in the market. This all changed when I walked by a store which sold LEGO individual pieces... It was incredible! I didn’t realize that I could purchase parts to build my own creations! That was the very first time I heard of “My Own Creation” (MOC), although I have been producing my own creations for such a long time! With all those LEGO parts I could purchase, my building possibilities were endless. I officially stepped on my MOC path. One afternoon, I was watching television and a Ghostbusters movie trailer came on, which stimulated my creative juices. I spent two days designing the iconic “Stay Puft Marshmallow Man” from Ghostbusters with LEGO bricks and the outcome was surprisingly good. One of my good friends is a collector of , such as those wearing rabbit, piggy, and monkey costumes. These minifigures made me wonder, “How cute would it be if I could enlarge them?” I began to design my first 25 cm tall LEGO figure, which was a LEGO figure in a bumblebee 10 costume. 11 People

For Eric Ong, it’s only been four years since he returned to LEGO building. He grew up building with his father’s Police and Fireman sets Builder Spotlight: but gradually got lost in the world of video games, cartoons and toys in the ’80s and ’90s. Now a 45-year-old Engineering Supervisor in the Semiconductor industry, he uses LEGO as a source of inspiration and as a creative outlet. His Eric Ong favorite LEGO themes are Superheroes, Lord of the Rings and . The Ultimate Collector Series Tumbler is his favorite set. He has combined Article and Photography his building hobby with another hobby—building military hobby kits to create amazing models of military hardware. Eric took out some time to show and talk by Eric Ong about some of his best creations. Some views of Eric’s F-117A.

18 19 Various views of the F-16D.

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

20 21 Building

The G.I. Joe® brand first emerged in the early ’60s as a 1:6 scale 12-inch military themed “action figure”—so- Building is Half the Battle! called due to the assumption that boys would not play with dolls—and marketed by Hasbro. In 1982 the G.I. Joe toy brand was revived and reinvented—this time in Reimagining the form of much smaller action figures, due to a natural oil shortage. The size chosen was 3.75 inch—the same 1:18 scale used by Star Wars figures, but with far more G.I. Joe sophisticated joint articulation. In this format, G.I. Joe became the code name of a fictional U.S. military special forces team, made up of the best of the best in the U.S. armed forces, and equipped with an array of modern and through LEGO state-of-the-art (but largely fictional) military hardware. Their enemy was Cobra—a ruthless “international terrorist Article by Magnus Lauglo organization” (a description which during the Cold War sounded more fantastical and less alarmingly real world than it might today), full of colorful villains that would not be out of place in a James Bond movie. Cobra had a large arsenal of fictional vehicles that were typically even more futuristic-looking than their Joe counterparts. Unlike the Magnus Lauglo has been active in the AFOL community Star Wars toys competing for shelf space in toy store aisles, since the early 2000s, back in the Lugnet days. He has built G.I. Joe toys did not depend on a large-budget movie for largely in the Castle and military themes, and even has his own their story. Supported by a popular cartoon and a long- modular landscape. For the past eight years, he has been busy running comic, G.I. Joe would go on for a dozen years breathing new life into the G.I. Joe universe in brick form. You into the early ’90s. At its peak around the mid ’80s, it was can run into him on flickr at Magnus-L https://www.flickr.com/ one of the most successful toys in the United States. This photos/78224984@N00/ or in person at BrickFair VA. is the G.I. Joe that I grew up on, and the one I have been reimagining in LEGO.

G.I. Joe and all related characters 22 TM & © Hasbro. 23 Magnus has built a multitude of G.I. Joe and COBRA vehicles. As a child living in Europe, I spent the ’80s deeply Here’s a sample of his many builds: immersed in LEGO and Transformers, and I didn’t start collecting G.I. Joe until the early ’90s, a little after what are usually considered the brand’s best years. This meant that I never owned any of the early-to-mid period classic action G.I. Joe Whirlwind Guns - This light figures and vehicles. I stayed faithfully, if increasingly dual gun can be towed behind other dubiously, with the toy line until it was cancelled in the vehicles. mid ‘90s, after suffering from several years of inferior product, resulting from attempts to keep up with an ever- changing and fad-driven toy market. All those years I also continued building LEGO. Unlike many builders, I never went through a “Dark Age.” I discovered the AFOL community around the beginning of the 21st Century, initially spending some time as a Castle builder. I lost steam as a Castle builder in the early 2000s, soon after LEGO discontinued its classic gray colors, in favor of new brighter shades of gray. However, around this same time, LEGO introduced dark green, which in turn inspired me to start my own building military vehicles. (See my article on building modern armor in Brick Journal #1, Volume 2, Spring 2008.) I was active in the military building community for many years, and I count G.I. Joe as a major inspiration for my military building style. However, there are only so many tanks, helicopters, and fighter planes I could build before the same ideas started rehashing themselves, and eventually I found G.I. Joe Killer W.H.A.L.E. – One of myself burning out on military building. I stayed active the most popular G.I. Joe vehicles. in the AFOL community, but for several years I built very I’ve added some color to my version sparingly—I still liked LEGO, I just didn’t know what to and expanded its capacity for troop build next. transport.

G.I. Joe Mauler - Probably the best basic tank of the classic line. I added some camouflage and modified the unmanned turret a little.

24 25 Parts List (Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com You Can Build It by searching by part number and color) Minifigure Model Qty Part Color Description 2 57467.dat Chrome Silver Minifig Harpoon 2 2431.dat White Tile 1x4 with Groove 1 2452.dat White Hinge Plate 1x2 with 3 Fingers On Side Cobra C.L.A.W. 2 2540.dat White Plate 1x2 with Handle 1 3022.dat White Plate 2x2 3 3068b.dat White Tile 2x2 with Groove 2 3710.dat White Plate 1x4 2 4070.dat White Brick 1x1 with Headlight 1 4276b.dat White Hinge Plate 1x2 with 2 Fingers and Hollow Studs 2 4599b.dat White Tap 1x1 without Hole in Spout 1 6636.dat White Tile 1x6 2 14719.dat White Tile 2x2 Corner 1 15573.dat White Plate 1x2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud 1 15712.dat White Tile 1x1 with Clip (Thick C-Clip) 1 41769.dat White Wing 2x4 Right 1 41770.dat White Wing 2x4 Left 1 43722.dat White Wing 2x3 Right Design by Magnus Lauglo 1 43723.dat White Wing 2x3 Left 2 44676.dat White Flag 2x2 Trapezoid Instructions by Joe Meno 2 60478.dat White Plate 1x2 with Handle on End 4 61252.dat White Plate 1x1 with Clip Horizontal About this model: (Thick C-Clip) 2 99774.dat White Minifig Ski 4L without Hinge The C.L.A.W. is a Covert Light Aerial Weapon used by 2 30377.dat Dk Bluish Grey Minifig Mechanical Arm Cobra. Basically a personal flying wing, this was armed 1 3062b.dat Black Brick 1x1 Round w/ Hollow Stud with two rockets and a machine gun. 1 30374.dat Black Bar 4L Blade This particular model is designed to fold up and be 1 6141.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1x1 Round stowed in compartments in the upper deck of the Terror 2 24201.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 2x1 Inverted Drome, ready for quick deployment. 1 42446.dat Lt Bluish Grey Bracket 1x1 - 1x1

32 33 Building

The Spinebeast.

Djordje Dobrosavljević builds characters. If you look on his Flickr gallery, you’ll see creatures and beings of all Djordje Dobrosavljević: sorts, from whimsical aliens to terrifying beasts. They all look like they were photographed during a live photo session, showing their personality with their stance, and sometimes their smile. Very few of them look like Character something that could be made from LEGO elements, except for perhaps the LEGO theme that was made up of crazy-looking creatures; the . The 24-year-old Builder! builder has been building these since 2001, when the line was released. Article by Joe Meno Djordje did have a Dark Age where he stopped building, Photography by Djordje Dobrosavljević which started in 2007. For him, when Bionicle was released, it was a really new sort of toy—a constructible action figure, or construction figure. He never had any actual LEGO sets until that point, but those weird colorful robot things really grabbed his attention. Their designs and the intricate storyline LEGO made up for the characters really inspired him. He returned to building four years later. What got him back into building from his Dark Age was the Hero Factory line, which was the successor to Bionicle. This time, his building was more 40 driven by wanting to explore character design in general, 41 which is another of Djordje’s long-time interests. You Can Build It MINI Model

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

Qty Color Part Description 2 White 53451.dat Minifig Helmet Viking Horn 6 White 87747.dat Bar 0.5L with Curved Blade 2L 1 Red 6141.dat Plate 1x1 Round 1 Red 32062.dat Technic Axle 2 Notched 2 Reddish Brown 3069b.dat Tile 1x2 with Groove 2 Reddish Brown 60481.dat Slope Brick 65 2x1x2 2 Orange 3004.dat Brick 1x2 2 Orange 3005.dat Brick 1x1 1 Orange 44790.dat Technic Hockey Helmet 2 Orange 54200.dat Slope Brick 31 1x1x0.667 1 Yellow 92208.dat Head, Upper Part W. Hole 4 Black 3005.dat Brick 1x1 2 Black 3021.dat Plate 2x3 1 Black 3023.dat Plate 1x2 1 Black 3941.dat Brick 2x2 Round 1 Black 3942c.dat Cone 2x2x2 with Hollow Stud Open 6 Black 4070.dat Brick 1x1 with Headlight 2 Black 4519.dat Technic Axle 3 2 Black 4599b.dat Tap 1x1 without Hole in Spout 3 Black 4697b.dat Technic Pneumatic T-Piece - Type 2 The Miner 2 Black 4733.dat Brick 1x1 with Studs on Four Sides 1 Black 6141.dat Plate 1x1 Round Design by Djordje Dobrosavljević 1 Black 6233.dat Cone 3x3x2 Instructions by Joe Meno 1 Black 15573.dat Plate 1x2 with Groove with 1 Centre Stud, without Understud 2 Black 15712.dat Tile 1x1 with Clip (Thick C-Clip) The Miner is a build that spotlights the whimsy and 5 Black 32474.dat Technic Ball Joint w/Axlehole Blind humor that Djordje invokes when creating. Using Technic 1 Black 47753.dat Wedge 4x4 Triple Curved and Hero Factory parts, he builds a mole—not just any without Studs mole, but a miner mole! With helmet on, the mole is ready 2 Black 48729a.dat Bar 1.5L with Clip without Hole to start digging into his next job! in Shaft 1 Black 60470b.dat Plate 1x2 with 2 Clips Horizontal When asked, Djordje had this to say about the Miner: (Thick C-Clips) “People usually regard moles as garden ruining pests, but 2 Black 61252.dat Plate 1x1 with Clip Horizontal I’ve always been a bit fascinated by them and how they (Thick C-Clip) make their elaborate and winding tunnel homes right 3 Black 85861.dat Plate 1x1 Round with Open Stud beneath our feet. It was this appreciation for them that 2 Black 87087.dat Brick 1x1 with Stud on 1 Side inspired the build, as I wanted to portray the animal as 1 Black 87994.dat Bar 3L the industrious construction worker that it is. The build 2 Black 90641.dat Constraction Shell 2.5x3x3 Flat itself is fairly simple and came together pretty quickly 3 Light Bluish Grey 90650.dat Constraction Shell 2.5x4x6 Flat over the course of an afternoon a few years ago. I hope the with Wings readers have as much fun building it themselves as I did 2 Light Bluish Grey 4274.dat Technic Pin 1/2 originally!” 1 Light Bluish Grey 4697b.dat Technic Pneumatic T-Piece - Type 2 1 Light Bluish Grey 30374.dat Bar 4L Lightsaber Blade

44 You Can Build It Model

House Mouse Design and Instructions by Felix Jaensch About this model: Qty Part Color Description Last issue, Felix Jaensch showed us some wonderful 1 3622.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 1x3 animal builds. This issue, he shows us how he builds one of his animals: A house mouse. 1 3623.dat Dk. Bluish Gre Plate 1x3 5 3665.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick 45 2x1 Inverted There are a couple of features that aren’t easily seen on 2 3700.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Technic Brick 1x2 with Hole this model. The head can rotate slightly from side to side 2 3794a.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Plate 1x2 without Groove thanks to the attachment by a lightsaber bar. The other with 1 Centre Stud feature is that the tail can bend thanks to the flex tube that 1 4070.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 1x1 with Headlight runs through the 1x1 round parts and cone. 2 6541.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Technic Brick 1x1 with Hole Enjoy building! 1 32064a.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Technic Brick 1x2 with Axlehole Type 1 Parts List (Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com 1 43722.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Wing 2x3 Right by searching by part number and color) 1 43723.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Wing 2x3 Left Qty Part Color Description 3 50746.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick 31 1x1x0.667 2 3023.dat Red Plate 1x2 1 61678.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 4x1 1 3024.dat Red Plate 1x1 3 85984.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick 31 1x2x0.667 2 3700.dat Red Technic Brick 1x2 with Hole 1 3794a.dat Black Plate 1x2 without Groove 2 4070.dat Red Brick 1x1 with Headlight with 1 Centre Stud 1 4733.dat Red Brick 1x1 with Studs 8 3062b.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Brick 1x1 Round w/Hollow Stud on Four Sides 2 4032a.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Plate 2x2 Round 1 30374.dat Red Bar 4L Lightsaber Blade with Axlehole Type 1 1 3001.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 2x4 2 4274.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Technic Pin 1/2 1 3002.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 2x3 4 4275b.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Hinge Plate 1x2 with 3 Fingers and Hollow Studs 4 3004.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 1x2 1 4589.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Cone 1x1 2 3005.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Brick 1x1 1 71175.dat Lt. Bluish Grey Technic Flex-System Hose 12L 3 3020.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Plate 2x4 (240LDU) 4 3023.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Plate 1x2 1 3024.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Plate 1x1 1 3039.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick 45 2x2 2 3040b.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Slope Brick 45 2x1 4 3069b.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Tile 1x2 with Groove 1 3070b.dat Dk. Bluish Grey Tile 1x1 with Groove 50 51 You Can Build It MINI Model

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

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

Qty Color Part Description 3 Black 3005.dat Brick 1x1 1 Black 30165.dat Brick 2x2 with Curved Top and 2 Studs on Top 2 Black 4589.dat Cone 1x1 Director 3 Black 3937.dat Hinge 1x2 Base 3 Black 3938.dat Hinge 1x2 Top Krennic’s 1 Black 3024.dat Plate 1x1 2 Black 26047.dat Plate 1x1 Round with Horizontal Handle on Side Personal Shuttle 1 Black 32028.dat Plate 1x2 with Door Rail 2 Black 60478.dat Plate 1x2 with Handle on End Design and Instructions 1 Black 3839b.dat Plate 1x2 with Handles Type 2 by Christopher Deck 1 Black 3710.dat Plate 1x4 1 Black 2444.dat Plate 2x2 with Hole Hello everybody, I am glad to be back for another exciting and Split Underside Ribs mini building session together with you in BrickJournal! 1 Black 3021.dat Plate 2x3 Today we want to build a model with a sophisticated 2 Black 3020.dat Plate 2x4 geometry. It’s Director Krennic’s personal shuttlecraft 2 Black 2450.dat Plate 3x3 without Corner as seen in the Star Wars spin-off movieRogue One. Its 1 Black 4460a.dat Slope Brick 75 2x1x3 remarkable design features a pyramid-like main body with with Open Stud a tail on the backbone and two extraordinarily long wings 2 Black 43093.dat Technic Axle Pin with Friction which can fold up in landing position. 1 Black 32523.dat Technic Beam 3 To do the angles justice, we cannot simply use standard 1 Black 2780.dat Technic Pin with Friction and Slots slopes of 45 degrees, but need an inner construction 4 Black 15712.dat Tile 1x1 with Clip (Thick C-Clip) with hinges instead. The hull sides and front can then 1 Black 3069b.dat Tile 1x2 with Groove be attached on these internal hinges. A tight central 1 Black 3068b.dat Tile 2x2 with Groove construction which will later hold the upper backbone of 2 Black 87079.dat Tile 2x4 with Groove the shuttle is necessary, as the angled sides do not leave 1 Black 43723.dat Wing 2x3 Left much space inside. 1 Black 43722.dat Wing 2x3 Right A pretty clever way to realize the two angled engine 1 Black 47397.dat Wing 3x12 Left thrusters on the backside is to use transparent light-blue 1 Black 47398.dat Wing 3x12 Right Bionicle tooth pieces. They seat perfectly between the 1 Black 43719.dat Wing 4x4 with 2x2 Cutout angled side panels. As a bonus, the wings are functional 2 Trans-Light-Blue 41669.dat Technic Tooth 1x3 with Axlehole 56 57 Neuralizer About this issue’s model: I’d like to tell you about this month’s model, but it’s classified. Oh, and that bright light you saw wasn’t a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was caught in a thermal pocket and refracted the light from Venus. Now if you’ll just look at this right here, I’ll explain everything...

Parts List (Parts can be ordered through Bricklink.com by searching by part number and color) Qty Part Color Description 2 85080.dat Red Brick 2x2 Corner Round w Stud Notch and Reinforced Underside 1 3023.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1x2 1 3034.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 2x8 1 3069b.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1x2 with Groove 1 3710.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1x4 2 4274.dat Lt Bluish Grey Technic Pin 1/2 2 6192.dat Lt Bluish Grey Brick 2x4 with Curved Top 2 6222.dat Lt Bluish Grey Brick 4x4 Round with Holes 1 6587.dat Lt Bluish Grey Technic Axle 3 with Stud 2 11477.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick Curved 2x1 2 15712.dat Lt Bluish Grey Tile 1x1 w/Clip (Thick C-Clip) 1 48336.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 1x2 with Handle Type 2 2 50746.dat Lt Bluish Grey Slope Brick 31 1x1x0.667 6 60474.dat Lt Bluish Grey Plate 4x4 Round with Hole and Snapstud 18 85080.dat Lt Bluish Grey Brick 2x2 Corner Round w Stud Notch and Reinforced Underside 2 86500.dat Lt Bluish Grey Dome 4x4 Smooth 1 99780.dat Lt Bluish Grey Bracket 1x2 - 1x2 Up Design and Instructions 3 2654.dat Dish 2x2 Black by Tommy Williamson

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

60 61 Building

I had an article written. I had a strategy in mind. Life happened late on Boxing Day (for my fellow Americans, that is December 26th) though; the Minifigure power company’s transformer blew up near my house while I was on holiday with my family. I returned on the 27th to initially discover the AC was not Customization 101: working (I live in Texas and it is hot all the time), which was not fun. To date we have discovered that it fried the transformer on the AC, the doorbell, a breaker, several outlets, a coffee maker, and my decal printer and computer. My computer and printer were plugged into a surge protector and while It is Good other items plugged in survived, but my printer didn’t. My printer survived Hurricane Harvey, the associated flooding, and the massive drywall induced dust storm of the Harvey tear-out, yet it did not survive a transformer blowing to Have up and sending a power spike (even though it was powered off)! ARGH! I, of course, discovered that the printer was broken the night before this article was due to Joe Meno for page layouts, therefore it became a last-minute scramble. Friends! This left me very discouraged, with a very expensive repair bill, and without a way to complete this article. I started scrambling and the article present is due to Chris Campbell and his willingness to not sleep, and pay overnight shipping Article and Photography fees to send me parts. Thank you Chris! Chris will be helping to open Brick by Chris Campbell and Print Studios in the near future (brickprintstudios.com), if not by the time this Jared K. Burks article is in print. Sometimes the simplest strategies are generally the hardest to create, but result in the best designs. Examine Apple products. They make it look easy, but it is not. Look at other designs out there; how many points of failure exist, and why Spider-Man and all related characters TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. everyone chases Apple. I hope in this article to demonstrate how to keep things simple and fun, even with a last-minute scramble. For the purpose of this article, we need an inspiration. I recently took my daughter to see the film Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and given the dynamic range that Marvel has created in the multi-universe of Spider-people/ 64 characters, this gives us a bit to work with. I am going to do my best to stick 65 to the film and create one or two of them for the article, as clearly we all need Inspiration art for Miles Morales. friends to help bail us out of trouble and broken printer situations from time to time. This article was originally going to create Spider-Ham and Spider-Noir from Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, but things changed last minute and I now have most of the cast; some created by me, some by modifying LEGO or aftermarket parts, and some from the companies in Asia selling versions. This is the scramble. I will leave certain descriptive details about what I was going to do for Spider-Ham and hopefully create a better option for the next article, using Fusion 360 with a more detailed approach. For this article I will be showcasing the following: • Miles Morales Spider-Man (My custom design and custom direct-printed by Chris, thank you) • Peter B. Parker – Alternate Universe out-of-shape Spider-Man (Mix and Match Official LEGO Parts + Custom Cloth by Mark Parker – MMCB Capes, again it is good to have friends) • Spider-Noir (My custom design, custom direct printed by Chris, thank you, + Custom Cloth by Mark Parker – MMCB Capes, again it is good to have Inspiration art for Miles Morales with hood. friends) • Jefferson Davis (Miles Father – Mix and Match Official LEGO Parts, will tweak later) • Stand-in Spider-Ham (Mix and Match Parts + Crazy Bricks [crazybricks.com] Pig head) • Stand-in Spider-Gwen (from Asian supplier, will make my own later) • Peter Parker Spider-Man of Miles’ Universe (Official LEGO Spider-Man) Miles Morales Miles was a last-minute addition to this article. In all honesty, the plan was for Spider-Ham and Spider-Noir, but hey, things go wonky and someone isn’t sleeping, so more gets piled on to make up. So Miles was designed. He was a quick modification to the Spider-Man design, primarily adding his version of Inspiration art for Peter B. Parker, Spider-Gwen, the Spider to the front and back of the outfit. As his is a black suit, it is keeping and Miles Morales. the webbing low-key; I had designed it in white, but Chris determined it was too bold and converted it to dark bluey-grey. We completed the figure using a similar eye design to Spider-Noir; just wait for the details below. I am toying playing with this one and using the new Harry Potter movable stubbie legs, adding a black jacket and a red hood for his “transition” look from the film. If I had my printer working I would mod and add my Nike design from a Shaun of the Dead Ed figure I made, but it’s not possible here (future work!). Hope you like Miles!

Miles Morales with and without hood. 64 65 Community

David Pagano is an award-winning filmmaker and the head of Paganomation, a New York-based production studio. His work has appeared on LEGO.com, Disney XD, An Abridged Nickelodeon, and for two seconds at the climax of . David is also the co-author of The LEGO Book, the definitive guide to filmmaking with LEGO bricks and characters. History of Little Little Guys... In Space! is the biggest, craziest, most complicated film I’ve ever made. Everything in the film is built from LEGO bricks and elements. There are 27 Guys… In Space! characters across eleven different locations, and the characters alone took a total of 33,286 LEGO pieces to Article and Photography by David Pagano create. It took a crew of 18 people 2,528 hours over the Additional Photography by Jennifer Bourne course of seven-and-a-half years to complete the film. And the film is only three minutes long. But First, the Original Little Guys... In Space! (LGIS for short) is a sequel, and to fully understand it requires a bit of backstory. I made the original Little Guys! film as my thesis project at NYU back in 2007. On the first day of our senior production class, my professor told us something along the lines of: “You can make your film about anything, but I suggest that you pick an idea that you really love. Because at some point during the production process, you’re going to hate working on it. But if you start from a place of really loving it, it’ll make the days when you do hate it a little less rough.”

Filmmaker David Pagano on set. 69 What kind of film would I really love to make? The answer was simple: An homage to/parody of 1980s toy commercials. And since I was expected to “get a real job” after graduation, I decided to create the film using a medium I also loved: LEGO bricks. After all, no one would ever hire me to make a stop-motion film using toys (or so I thought). And so, the concept behind Little Guys! was born. I would take LEGO bricks—which can be used to create pretty much anything—and use them to make an exciting commercial for a fake toy that does essentially nothing. Making “Little Guys!” I spent eight months creating the first Little Guys! film, using (and reusing) every piece in my collection to make The most basic of the Little Guys! figures. Despite being locked in a non- articulated T-pose, these toys are marketed (within the world of the Little it work. I would build a character and backdrop, animate Guys! films, anyway) as “the most exciting, most fun friends you’ve ever the scene, and then take everything apart to build the played with.” next scene. The retro ’80s vibe was chosen partially out of necessity—I was shooting with an HD camera, but if I made the final film low-resolution, I could explain away any technical limitations or lo-fi design choices as intentional artifacts of the era. I graduated in 2007 and found work in the New York animation industry. And over the next several years, Little Guys! made the rounds at festivals, at LEGO fan events, on the Internet… and at itself. Eventually, unexpectedly (and somewhat remarkably), the original Little Guys! film got my foot in the door making shorts for TLG, and was the impetus for starting my own animation studio, leading to dozens of other Paganomation- produced animated shorts. So, naturally, I decided to make another one. And Then, a Sequel The characters from the original Little Guys! film had limited articulation. The arms and torsos were all solid pieces, but these kids could nod, turn their The idea for a Little Guys! sequel had always been to set heads, and rotate their wrists and eyebrows. The eyes and mouth shapes could it “In Space”. I love science-fiction almost as much as also be swapped to have the character blink or talk. I love retro commercials, and there’s a rich history of transporting beloved franchisesIF intoYOU outer ENJOYED space THIS as a PREVIEW, trope. If it could work for PowerCLICK Rangers THE, Friday LINK TOthe ORDER13th, THIS and Gilligan’s Island, why notISSUE Little INGuys! PRINT? OR DIGITAL FORMAT! I started working on LGIS on May 13, 2011. As with the original film, I began by collecting reference material for inspiration. I watched tons of 1980s commercials on YouTube, had a sci-fi movie marathon, and poured over books on the art of Star Wars, NASA history, and retro box art. One of the things I really enjoy is world-building—both with my LEGO collection, and in terms of writing a story. I love the idea of a film universe that’s larger than just what you see on screen. For LGIS, my research into old spacey content The improved articulation of the LGIS charaters is apparent in this scene had revealed recurring themes of “the future!”, synthesizers, featuring alien co-workers Susan Williams (left) and Groblenak (right). goofy alien make-up, and an air of vague militarism. I tried Susan’s eyes use ball turret parts from , and Groblenak’s BRICKJOURNAL #56 snout is fully posable thanks to the larger ball-and-socket joints. to cram as much of that stuff LIFE-SIZEinto the LEGO script and what as it takespossible. to build them (besides a ton of In the background is a water cooler prop made possible by the release LEGO brick)! HELEN SHAM’s sculptures of giant everyday items, I’m a big fan of films like Airplane!MAGNUS ,LAUGHLO and that’s GI Joe®-inspired level of models, military builds of #21313 Ship in a Bottle. by ERIC ONG, plus “Bricks In The Middle” comic by KEVIN obscure references and jokes-per-minuteHINKLE, “You Can Build is It” definitely instructions by CHRISTOPHER DECK, BrickNerd’s DIY Fan Art, Minifig Customization by JARED something I aspire to match.K. I BURKSalways, & more! describe the Little Guys! films as both parody and pastiche,(84-page FULL-COLOR and I believe magazine) $8.95that (Digital Edition) $4.95 70 to make a successful parody, you have to really know and 71 love the originals. bit.ly/BrickJournal56