iPhone survives 100 ft drop with LEGO case!

When you think of tough, weathered materials with which to encase and protect your valuable iPhone, the ol' LEGO® brick may not be the first thing that immediately springs to mind. However, the durable children's toy might make a better option than it initially seems.

Image Courtesy of Wired

In what is a must-watch video, the potential of LEGO® to be highly effective in its capacity to protect an iPhone is demonstrated. The iPhone is dropped from 100 feet and survives the drop with barely a scratch.

It seems that the impact from the fall is absorbed completely by the LEGO® bricks, and although some of the poor little guys won't make it home (with at least one being noticeably snapped in twain), the iPhone itself is protected and works perfectly after the fall.

Now obviously there are a couple of disadvantages with using a LEGO® iPhone case. It is going to be more bulky than most other cases on the market for a start and so it might be more of the case you use when you're staying at home and not travelling about, that is if you were to use it at all.

Additionally every time the case breaks, it will need to be put back together, essentially having to rebuild the case every time. However this is not too difficult to do, it can be quite fun and is going to be a hell of a lot less inconvenient than buying a new iPhone and/or an iPhone case every time disaster strikes and your phone becomes irreparably damaged.

So as the hunt for the perfect iPhone case continues, LEGO® makes a strong bid in its claim as a serious contender. Even if the issue of has not been unequivocally resolved, perhaps most importantly it justifies dropping things from 100 foot heights which is always fun to watch!

Brickman Dan

Brickman Dan is the founder of Brick Yourself and publishes regular articles on how LEGO® Art & Design, as well as LEGO® Investment.

Disney Characters Shrunk Down to Lego®

Image Courtesy of Lego

Due to be released in May, Brick Yourself has discovered pre-release pictures of the Disney characters the Lego® group has been secretly developing.

Image Courtesy of Notey.com

The list includes:

1. Mickey Mouse
2. Minnie Mouse
3. Donald Duck
4. Daisy Duck
5. Peter Pan
6. Captain Hook
7. Lilo
8. Stitch
9. Aladdin
10. Jafar
11. The Genie
12. Arial - The Little Mermaid
13. Maleficient
14. Alice In Wonderland
15. The Chesire Cat
16. Buzz Lightyear
17. Toy Alien from Toy Story
18. Mr Incredible
19. Syndrome - Incredible's Villain

Image Courtesy of Notey.com

Most of these characters look great. The original Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck look just like their cartoon counterparts. They look somewhat like Lego® figures too, not as far from the standard mini-figures as the Angry Birds but not exactly like genuine Lego® figures either. The dress on Minnie Mouse is a particularly nice touch.

Image Courtesy of Notey.com

Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and Aladdin all look fantastic, as does Maleficient and Arial, however my favourite is Buzz Lightyear. With his space helmet  and suit he looks exactly like he does in the movie, but he also makes for one dynamic Lego Minifigure. Other nice minifigure features are Aladdin's hair with fez on top and Alice in Wonderland's bottle and cake which are great accessories. They help identify her character immediately whilst keeping her well within believable Lego® minifigure parameters.

Image Courtesy of Notey.com

2016 has seen a lot of new releases from the Lego® group already and although these might not be the absolute coolest figures yet released, they are still pushing the bar pretty high. Look out for their exciting release in May and stay tuned to Brick Yourself's latest releases to stay abreast of current Lego® news and find out exactly what we have to say regarding the investment value of these new figures in the near future.

Image Courtesy of Lego

Brickman Dan

Brickman Dan is the founder of Brick Yourself and publishes regular articles on how LEGO® Art & Design, as well as LEGO® Investment.

Is This The Worst Lego Set Ever?

The Lego® Group has been experimenting with different themes for years and has expanded its range significantly of late but have they pushed the buck too far?

In war it is rarely a good strategy to extend yourself too far and in business the practice also holds true. Although as a business it is often important to extend your range, experiment with new ideas and even implement them from time to time the release of Angry Birds by Lego® may be a particularly unsuccessful move by a company that has weathered many tough storms in the past.

Image Courtesy of Lego®

Angry Birds began life as a game that quickly rose to popularity and became far more successful than its creators could ever have envisaged. Since then it has enjoyed a large amount of popularity as it has been cast and recast in a variety of different merchandising mediums.

Whether the theme works in a Lego®-based medium is essentially the question at hand and for me, the answer is a firm no.

The sets themselves don't look great and neither do the figures. Perhaps it is the size or the shape or both, but the figures themselves have steered so far away from the traditional Lego® mini-figure that they lose all credibility as genuine Lego® figures. The sets themselves offer almost nothing new other than a new 'egg' element, but this is certainly not enough to be a significantly redeeming factor for the theme.

The major problem as far as I see it is that Lego has sacrificed quality for popularity and commercial potential. For the Lego® group this is an unacceptable step in the wrong direction. For a company whose products are so heavily steeped in a reputation of quality and excellence, this move seems to be antithetical to the company's philosophy, so much so that the set seems like an anomaly in a track record that is perhaps not flawless in this previous regard, but one that is fairly close nevertheless.

Image Courtesy of Lego®

It will be interesting to see whether this set will sell but for me the answer is a definitive no.This may not seem like a big thing in the long run, as the Lego® company is certainly not struggling for sales, but the major problem lies in the damage to the company's reputation. If Lego® continues to release sets of inferior quality this could significantly impact the company's reputation as a provider of quality toys that it has maintained for so long over the long term and a quick grab for profits now (which probably won't pay off) could see many consumers dropping off in the long term.

Brickman Dan

Brickman Dan is the founder of Brick Yourself and publishes regular articles on how LEGO® Art & Design, as well as LEGO® Investment.

Lego Fan Designs the Ultimate Bat Cave - A Must See!

Lego(R) fan Dan Glasure has stepped to the forefront of MOC (My Own Creation) brilliance and innovation with his latest creation, the Dark Knight's Batcave.

In what is surely one of the most impressive MOC's to come out this year and arguably the ultimate Lego Batcave to-date, Glasure's work has set the bat-bar at a seriously high level. Dan's Bat-Cave combines all the elements of Batman's secret lair with stunning ingenuity, using specialised Lego bricks with precision and flair.

The Bat Cave is designed inside a Lego mountain and the rocky motif is featured throughout the work, both inside and out. Dan nicely combines small sloping elements in grey as well as translucent blue and yellow to create some lovely artistic features with his design. The floor is bathed in blue gemstone style bricks while yellow light floods from above creating an eerie yet beautiful effect that pulls you straight into the scene.

The interior of the cave itself features a rotating platform atop which the batmobile sits, a working laboratory with various beakers and sticker elements to add colour and authenticity. The armoury is back lit in blue, repeating the rock floor's motif, and is stacked with tons of bat weapons. What is especially nice about the armoury is Batman's armour sitting behind a transparent 'glass' wall.

Bruce Wayne's mansion also features in this creation and is a nice addition to the overall set. Set in red bricks in a modular style, it complements the bat cave's angles and organic structure nicely.

Looking at the batcave from a distance the overall aesthetic is mesmerizing. Glasure has done a fantastic job with this creation and deserves all the credit that this set may bring. Little details combine to create something that really is far greater than the sum of its parts. It took Dan more than two months to build the set, but it seems that the result speaks for itself.

Glasure himself says in relation to the set:

“When I set out to build our Batcave MOC, I was well aware there was already some stunning MOC’s out there. So my goal was never ‘to be the biggest or best’. Rather, I simply hoped to take a little different approach. My thought was to have a ‘working’ Batcave. I wanted it to look as if this was where ‘The World’s Greatest Detective’ spent a lot of time. Perhaps in his workshop, or in his labs, or working on turbine engines for his vehicles (though maybe that’s Alfred’s job!)."

With all the other Batcave MOC's out there it is refreshing to see that imagination and innovation can still do so much to create something so spectacularly creative and different.

Brickman Dan

Brickman Dan is the founder of Brick Yourself and publishes regular articles on how LEGO® Art & Design, as well as LEGO® Investment.

A 1st Lego Olympics?

Groups of students from all over the world are coming together in St Louis at the end of April for an event being dubbed by some as the first LEGO® Olympic Games, the first LEGO® League World Festival.

Courtesy of Geekadelphia

A special kind of games is being developed here since generally speaking, some LEGO® based Olympic events may be particularly problematic. One only has to think of the potentially dangerous nature of Olympic diving and the pole vault to realise that some LEGO® based events might not be such a good idea. A pole vaulting event that was comprised entirely of LEGO® bricks for example could be potentially fraught with many difficulties not the least being that the pole itself would almost always invariably break, leaving injured contestants lying below the bar, covered in LEGO® and moaning in pain. Not a great moment for the Olympics or LEGO®.

A LEGO® diving competition could be even more disastrous since diving from any significant height into a pile of LEGO®-brick-water would be enough to chafe more than one's ego, not to mention the inevitable collapse of the LEGO® diving board on the way down. Again, this sort of event would create more in-patients than it would gold medalists and should in no way be encouraged. On the other hand, the LEGO® weight lifting contest however would be remarkably easy one would have to think and the hurdles wouldn't hurt so much, but all in all its not a particularly spectacular idea.

So what the hell am I talking about you may ask?

The LEGO® League World Festival is a global robotics program initiated as a joint venture between LEGO® and First. Its aim is to bring young children together from around the world to engage in solving real-world problems using LEGO®, robotics and engineering concepts.

Courtesy of Madein Limburg

The event itself has been dubbed the LEGO® equivalent of the Olympics however with more than 230,000 children competing from over 80 different countries. Australia's team will be competing with the best of the best and volunteers are always required.

Montana Governor Steve Bullock summed up the reasons behind supporting children at this early age quite nicely.

"When we take a look at the availability and the opportunity for science, technology, engineering and math jobs in our state, we need to be building the pipeline. You don't wait until the kids are in college or thereafter, you begin to get them engaged now. The level of creativity and what they're building are skills that not only will keep them engaged in school, but will open up horizons for all kinds of opportunities in the future,"

Courtesy CFFLL

Whether the first robotics league ever makes it to the actual Olympics is irrelevant. The feeling surrounding this event is that the LEGO® company is again on the verge of something that could be big and will at the least impact the world in a positive way, seeking to implement change among tomorrow's generation, where so much of the world's hope lies.

Brickman Dan

Brickman Dan is the founder of Brick Yourself and publishes regular articles on how LEGO® Art & Design, as well as LEGO® Investment.

Golden Age of Gaming Revisited By LEGO® Dimensions

LEGO® Dimensions was released last September and there have been a number of interesting releases within the Dimensions series so far.

Some of their themes including the Simpsons and Back to the Future have not been particularly successful in their appeal however others like Doctor Who, Portal 2 and Ghostbusters have been much more well received and generally regarded as being more fun.

The Lego Dimensions World - courtesy of Lego(R)

This particular LEGO® Dimensions version involves battling out various old school levels and bosses through LEGO® generated scenes and sequences. Some are more fun than others while some hold out much better over time. One interesting review comment suggested that the further back in time a game actually went, the better it holds up. One only has to look at Pong to see the plausibility of this statement, at least to some degree.

Courtesy Emu Paradise

The main games actually covered in this Dimensions release are  720°, Badlands, Blasteroids, Championship Sprint, Defender, Defender II (aka Stargate), Gauntlet, Gauntlet II, Klax, Joust, Joust 2, Marble Madness, Paperboy, Rampage, Road Blasters, Robotron: 2084, Spy Hunter, Super Sprint, Timber, Toobin’, Cyberball, Vindicators, and Xybots.

Courtesy of Metro

Finally, the LEGO® set also comes with its very own gamer kid and arcade machine which looks absolutely amazing and goes even further toward capturing what will forever be known as the golden age of the video game.

Brickman Dan

Brickman Dan is the founder of Brick Yourself and publishes regular articles on how LEGO® Art & Design, as well as LEGO® Investment.

Designing Custom Lego Figures Part 1

HOW TO DESIGN CUSTOM LEGO® MINI-FIGURES

In this very special look inside the Brick Yourself design process, we’re pleased to release this article in conjunction with the premiere of Brick Yourself’s new Brick Yourself pictures. These pictures are available for public display and can be viewed more thoroughly in our gallery.

PART 1:

CUSTOM LEGO® MINIFIGURES

There are many types of custom Lego® minifigures. The term is given to any figures designed specifically in the image of someone, be they a notable character or otherwise.  As far as standard, (or non-custom Lego® Minifigures go), design for minifigure characters initially was a very generic, smiling person. Over the years the faces began to develop reaching the diversity and complexity of the figures Lego currently produce.

The characters have in the past generally been dictated by different themes  e.g. Batman, Star Wars, Pirate. But over the last few years, the Lego® group has released a veritable feast of minifigures each representing a character in society or fiction in some way. These figures can be viewed as being their own theme and as a result Lego figures became much more adept in its personalisation of minifigures and in this sense become far more relatable to society.

The next stage in this evolution is to customise the mini-figures to individuals and this is where you’ll find Brick Yourself: At the forefront of the custom Lego® frontier. Going boldly where no-one has gone before. We aim to design figures that are artistic in a fun and exciting process of collaboration with the client.  

WHAT EXACTLY ARE CUSTOM LEGO FIGURES?

You can describe custom figures in many ways, but what they are essentially and fundamentally can only be described as highly specific pieces of art. They capture aspects of reality in unique ways, while expressing certain truisms about the subject. Though the figures can be small, the shear quantity of available parts make the design and research  process quite challenging.

Brickman Dan

Brickman Dan is the founder of Brick Yourself and publishes regular articles on how LEGO® Art & Design, as well as LEGO® Investment.

In Part 2: How to design the perfect mini-figure and what goes into it.