ChocolateFrogs

Today I participated in a LUG display at a local museum's Halloween event (I went as The Eleventh Doctor, btw). It was plenty fun displaying MOCs and interacting with the public, as it always is. But there was something about the way people looked at the creations that seemed a little short-sighted: They couldn't reach their creativity past licensed themes. Example One: The Rancor. I displayed a six-module long Pharaoh's Labyrinth, including a hollow pyramid with a tomb and an excavation attacked by a mummy army starting outside that to tell a little narrative before getting into all the dangerous rooms. This included The Doctor and TARDIS landing somewhere he'd rather not be, the Stargate and cast in a perfect Egyptian setting, and a Munchkin Level 8 Gazebo which few people noticed. The fourth room was more Munchkin Bricks minifigs attacking several monster-types. This included a Rancor. But as people saw the Stargate and the TARDIS, they noticed the Rancor as "Star Wars" instead of just "monster! AHHH!" to my dismay. Example Two: The Exuberant. I love showing off my SHIP because I put a lot of work into it, plus big things get attention. But among several original space MOCs, they suddenly see this big thing and immediately ask what it's from. Uhhh, my mind? It's not "from" anything you might have seen on TV, the movies, or a video game. (Unless you can spot the slight inspirational points I took from Stargate Atlantis' Aurora and Orion.) It's a microspace SHIP for LEGO's 1998 Exploriens space line, and I had complete creative freedom in building it. Example Three: Jurassic World. My Bubble Helmet Retronaut is the most fun I've had building Bionicle in years (because it's been years since I properly build Bionicle). Now, I'm not entirely jaded that people started mentioning the theme where I took his bubble helmet from, but there comes a point where it's not being inspiring as NPU and instead being a distraction for mentioning where parts are from. Luckily my Steampunk Sleigh didn't have that same problem, much. Bonus example: The LEGO Movie: I also had Emmet and Wyldstyle in peril in the Labyrinth, and kids were calling it "LEGO Dimensions" and "The LEGO Movie," to the point of asking why they're here instead of, say, the Wild West or the City. Note to self: No more off-hand nods to fun. At this point, I'm reconsidering how I want to display the Pharaoh's Labyrinth at BrickFair next week, if at all. I could parse it down to Stargate and TARDIS vignettes. Scratch the Munchkin Bricks and monsters. But there might be a better crowd there, as BrickFair VA was very promising in people enjoying those portions. I'm definitely staying away from things that might distract from the overall feel of building whatever you want, so the Rancor is out and I'll give the monster dungeon more narrative with less busyness. I think I'll replace the Rancor with this guy, and rubberband a Bionicle mask to the head. And hopefully something can be figured out for the public to appreciate genre-mashing. -CF

Ha! Hmm...

True. Three days to cosplay, three costumes. It just depends on what might be best. Especially with my beard. -CF

Help! I can't choose what costumes to wear for Halloween celebrations! I'll be wearing one on Saturday for a Halloween LEGO event, and then I'll need two costumes for BrickFair public hours next week. I've got three options: Eleventh Doctor, Indiana Jones, and Jayne Cobb. Jayne works best for Saturday because I know I'll be more comfortable in a t-shirt. It works best overall because I have a trimmed/maintained beard, but I'll ignore that feature for the other two. But the Eleventh is also easy because I can forgo the tweed jacket if bodyheat/internal temperature rises. But Indiana Jones is fun too, though I no longer have the whip. So I feel like the Doctor and Jayne costumes are more favorable for the events. Beard and all. Still, it's a tough choice. What do I want to cosplay right now? -CF

Sounds fun! I wish I could make it. If anyone is attending, I recommend the TT Games panel (and the other one) if you can swing it. Last year there was some great discussion, guest appearances by big names in the comics and film industry, and new clips to preview before anyone else. Plus they gave a free t-shirt and poster to everyone! I'm looking forward to hearing about it after the weekend online. -CF

Last weekend was Baltimore Comic Con, and I attended with a BZPower Press Pass on my shirt and comics in my backpack. I hung out with 55555 on Friday and went solo on Saturday. Both days I had a blast, got many autographs, bought some stuff, and attended some fun panels. (And I interviewed Bionicle's Pop Mhan.) And just as I was hoping, I got to meet Charles Soule again, and Greg Pak and Mark Waid finally. They're all really cool, and some of the panels I attended featured them. Unlike New York Comic Con, panels here are much more accessible and definitely don't need to require waiting in line for an hour to get in (just show up on time). BCC is a tenth of the attendance size of NYCC, so there's that. It was much more feasible to fill up my time with panels at this event, which made the overall experience more enjoyable. NYCC was more of a scavenger hunt to get autographs on comic covers without waiting in line for an hour, but this was an even mix of everything I wanted to do because the time allowed for it. Which included getting some awesome swag! A favorite online artist, Mike Maihack, from the webcomic/graphic novel Cleopatra in Space, was there and offering a great deal on watercolor commissions, so this was my best chance to finally get a custom piece of Kitty Pryde by him. (His style is really cute, especially his Batgirl and Supergirl comics, and as you can see he does a great Kitty Pryde too.) He also had a Rey and BB-8 print he just did recently, so I picked that up too (but it was really hard to choose between that and something with other heroins he's known for). The Sandman print is from another artist (Angela McKendrick) who has a great style, and I wish I could have afforded the 3-for-$25 deal. (Another issue: wall space.) I also got to meet Otis Frampton, who works on the art and animation for the How It Should Have Ended videos! As you can see, there a few comic covers with autographs, which is a great way to show who I've met: Someday I'll frame a bunch of these. Finally,I also bought some fake LEGO. (Gasp!) It's not like LEGO will ever make Fantastic Four minifigs anyway... Though hopefully they'll eventually do Reverse Flash. Daredevil will hopefully happen too (Marvel Collectible Minifig Series?), and I skipped a few other figs like Doctor Strange out of hopes for official figs come Avengers 3 and 3 Part 2. And the FF Spidey is something I would expect in a DK LEGO Marvel guidebook like LEGO Batman has, if I'm allowed some wishful thinking. (These are from Amazing Heroes Minis.) Alas, I missed out on getting Scott Snyder's autograph. He's a big name and a great writer, but there just wasn't enough time to get to everything and get to him. But that's OK, because the panels matter more. It's the con experience! Plus I like Charles Soule more, and I saw him plenty. It was a good comic-focused weekend, and I had a blast. It's more comic-oriented than San Diego Comic Con is, or even NYCC is. Though NYCC is big enough to have panels and stuff on the comic-inspired movies and TV shows while still being about comics and geekiness. A broader audience. If there's ever something like this locally that suits your interests, I definitely recommend it! It's a great way to connect with your hobbies. What's next for me? Probably BrickFair NJ. -CF

So it's like Castlepunk? I'm game for more. -CF

Very cool! Have fun! -CF (Wish I was there.) (Kinda. They also kinda keep snubbing Bionicle?)

I don't know which is worse: That we have Simpsons LEGO or there are Angry Bird LEGO coming.

Baltimore Comic Con is coming this weekend, and I am getting more and more pumped with anticipation with each day! On Friday I'll be hanging out with 55555, and on Saturday I'll be going solo unless a friend actually replies to my texts. There are plenty of exciting panels happening, so it's just a matter of if I can get in to see the awesome comic creators talk. So I guess it's a matter of getting in line in time. There's a talk about the 90s X-Men series New Mutants, one about comics as myths and working mythology into your story, Mark Waid talking about writing great characters, a spotlight on Waid and Charles Soule, looking at the science behind superheroes and their powers, and more! I also hope to get a handful of comics autographed by some favorite creators, like Mark Waid, Scott Snyder, and Charles Soule: That's five issues by Charles Soule, two by Greg Pak, two by Scott Snyder, two by Mark Waid including my Kingdom Come graphic novel, and a few others by some more cool comic creators. And eventually I'll get some of these signed works of art framed. I'm hoping to get some cool works of art in Artists Alley too. So we'll see what happens by the end of the weekend. And I'll be back in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. A beautiful part of the city! If you're going too, drop me a message! -CF

Three SHIPs and the month isn't even over yet! I especially love the Bionicle SHIP, because it's such a great idea. And it works! (Good luck throwing it.) -CF

I've had a BrickLink account for quite some time, and a BrickLink store for a few years too, but now I can confidently say I have an intriguing amount of parts to make something of it. Not like huge, just a respectable size for my needs and parts. So please, check out Chocolate Froggy Pieces and buy buy buy! I've just added some Bionicle parts there and hope to add some more System parts soon. And I've recently put in some Star Wars figs that are marked as NEW--heck, I still haven't taken them out of the sets yet. They're that fresh. Tell me promo code "BZP2015" when you check out and I'll take off 10% on all orders through the end of the year. Happy shopping! -CF

Awesome! And lucky! -CF

Oooh. That'd be...interesting. I didn't know Animorphs was still on the radar of anyone except people who grew up with it. (Though maybe some of those people have entered the Hollywood world and are making connections to put these kinds of suggestions in.) I bet they'll shoot for a trilogy. Part one will have a conclusion to a conflict, part two will be a cliffhanger, and part three will destroy the invasion once and for all. -CF

Thanks for the review, Aaron! Including those excellent pictures. I'm not too worried about $.19 a piece, considering other constraction price-per-piece ratios (as Scott mentioned above). Even though a lot of that piece count goes towards tiny Technic parts. I think Grievous is the best set in this wave of action figures and well worth the $35 to anyone who feels like getting it. He's just so huge and awesome, plus has some great parts for building. -CF

My favorite is the Toa Mata panorama, since it's so classic and vibrant. But these are all fantastic! Good job everyone! (And thank you Jason for doing the hardest part since the beginning!) -CF

WAMALUG is just waiting for LEGO to do some big event/discount day on a LUG meeting day, but so far they've wised up and haven't done anything on the second Saturday of a month in a long time. Last I remember, there was a DK Star Wars book release party one weekend, and the LUG meeting was just a few miles away from the LEGO Store, so we went to the mall for lunch and the event. I got a Chrome Darth Vader out of it! -CF

Great things come in pairs. (That's a thing, right?) This year has been a good year for doubles for me. Double Green Lantern sets in January (for this), double Jurassic World helicopters in July (one a gift!), and most recently double San Diego Comic Con Trans-Neon Green Skull Scorpio masks! Yes, they all looked super-cool at BrickFair (my second convention of the year, but that double might turn into a triple in October), so I checked eBay again and found a great deal on two! (I'll be selling one off eventually.) Doubles, hurrah! I also got double Ultimate Spider-Man sets for a Superior Spider-Man: Admittedly, in the comics his chest webbing is black on a red background, but that's purism for you. And the Doctor Octopus lookalike legs need to be dark red, but those tiny details are forgotten about between comic book readings (plus LEGO doesn't make them). I guess TT Games did it better. (Oh, and the sets come with two 2x2 rotor stickers each, and I can use all four!) Furthermore, I got two of the Ant-Man ants! My manager wanted just the figs, so we worked out a deal on the set and now I have two ants (plus the rest of a full set), which means two pairs of those sweet, sweet bug wings. I've already got some things in mind. We'll see if anything else catches my eye, twice, the rest of this year. -CF

Well put! And on top of that, anyone naysaying the inclusion of these new characters into the comics is doing themselves a disservice. Not because they don't want new characters taking the spotlight, not because they "can't relate" (ha), but because the titles are really good and the readers may be missing out. Spider-Gwen is a pretty fun concept, but most of all Ms Marvel totally rocks for being so fresh after years upon years of just the usual problems facing the usual characters while they punch stuff! (I haven't read Silk yet.) It's great seeing Marvel taking chances. -CF

I currently have 7 Hot Dog Guy minifigs. Granted, six of them are sealed in the bag and in my BrickLink store, but still. Just imagine a whole lineup of Hot Dog guys in some sort of MOC. Craaaaaaziness. I also have 4 unicorns, all sealed. Oops, or yay? -CF

There's always some sort of discussion about staying an extra day or coming a day early and visiting DC/local sights, but that didn't seem to be feasible this year. Maybe next year. -CF

Awesome video. Glad you had a good time! Also, my name has been missing from your sidebar for about five months. -CF

Well I see your name stand out on the Board, and for some reason I thought we were going to connect at previous conventions for whatever reason but never did. But maybe I'm confusing that for someone else. Oh well. -CF

Well it's not very SNOTy, and it's a few years' old. Usually only new things get nominated. I guess people liked a flat space battleship (not like the Yamato, but modern Navy) more than 90's space. :/ Just encouragement to BUILD HARDER. Indeed! I do like visiting Baltimore, if there's stuff to do. Or DC. If it was longer, I think cooking our own food would be the best choice, and it would save so much money! It was great seeing you when we were together though! It's always hard juggling this many people next to so much to do. I meant to hang out with you, and everyone else, more too. -CF

What a fantastic time! I miss you all. I love you all.* I say that ever year. But hey, there was merriment, there was fun, there was friendship, there was building, there was a bit of everything. I will definitely remember this year fondly like I do every year. And boy did I had a good time with everyone! Granted, I didn't get enough time with everyone, and I like to take my "everyone" in separate chunks, but putting everyone together in the same place really makes BrickFair feel like a LEGO Christmas. It's those moments that really make it special, even if it's 2 AM in a giant hotel room with a cool drink in hand. BrickFair highlights for me include my SHIP being nominated for two Brickees (though I didn't win), meeting set designer Marcos Bessa who made a ton of superhero sets like the Milano (and even took a picture holding it on the set of the actual ship) and is a big X-Men fan, seeing the LEGO Brickumentary for free (everyone should see it), and getting lots of good deals and free swag (bubble helmets!). I also walked around with a huge BrickBadge, as usual. This was my 11th year going to a LEGO convention, and my 12th convention under my belt. (And I might get to BrickFair NJ this October, making a third for this year.) My BrickBadge looked something like this all weekend: It's actually a great conversation starter! People always say "you've been doing this for a while!" or something, and then a few other bricks point out themes I'm active in that they should definitely check out. This year I made a tiny Pharaoh's Labyrinth vignette which I think really adds to the pizzazz. We should really just make this thing two weeks long. We could actually plan movie nights that don't start at midnight, take plenty of photos, build to our hearts' content, visit DC, sleep in, and tell each other our deepest darkest LEGO secrets. Until next time, play well! -CF *BrickFair theme tehe.jpg