woensdag 31 augustus 2016

Build Report: 70220 Strainor's Saber Cycle

In today's build report we are looking at one of the Chima sets from the final story arc,where ice and fire met.

Strainor's Saber Cycle is, well, a large cycle like machine from the forces of Coldness, and faces of a young hero bend on stopping him.

Opening the box, we get three bags of elements, a sticker sheet and the instruction manual.

There are two figures in the set, Worriz and Strainor.  I love those wings Worriz has on his back.

Fiest, we have a small build, as a wall is included as a sort of scenery.  Based on a long plate, this is build up using some slopes and masonry stones.



We then begin building the cycle itself.  The centre of the machine is a collection of technic axles and beams.



The large central wheel is then put together and installed in the middle of the beam construction, together with some very sharp blades.


The connection point for the upperbuild is then installed.


The front carries some large icy fangs to shove those who oppose Strainor aside.

We then begin building the upper side of the vehicle.  This is shaped like a sabretooth head, a feature of many vehicles that it resembles their pilot`s species.





Icy details are added to make it look a lot more sinister and cold.


The next thing we install is the underjaw of the machine.



The upperjaw is then added together and installed on top of the machine.  This includes very cool ears and a mighty sharp set of teeth...







The upperbody is then attached to the underside, and the machine is ready.


Of course, we get a lot of extra pieces with the set.

And the full set completed

I liked this one for the Sabretooth and the colorpalette, and I must admit I find it a bit of a pity the Chima line has ended.  For me personally, it was a better source for parts then the current Nexo Knights line, but the good thing is that you can now find them in clearances often.




dinsdag 30 augustus 2016

Security Breach

Okay, so in hindsight, perhaps "Chima in Space" would have been a better name...

The latest vignette I build is based on Star Trek Online, and it`s recent Agents of Yesterday time travel expansion.

Here, you can make a TOS era crew and pilot a ship, and end up in the 25th century of the main storyline, encountering the Hirogen for example.

Which was what inspired my little build.  I loved the Hirogen in Voyager, and envisioned them hunting one of those time displaced vessels, boarding them to get to their prey.  The scene is made to represent a small corridor section aboard a TOS era starship, where a Caitan security agent is keeping a fight with one of the hunters.

Hope you like it!

maandag 29 augustus 2016

Star Wars Clone Wars Gambit: Siege - Karen Miller

While I`m more of a Trekkie, I always had an open mind about other franchises and have read the occassional Star Wars novel.

So I picked this one up at the recent Boekenfestijn in May, part 2 of the Gambit tale, taking place between the second and third movie.

Plot

Anakin and Obi Wan are on the run for Lok Durd, a Neimodian who is developping a terrifying chemical weapon.  While (in part 1) they had succeeded in freeing the family of the lead researcher on this project, the weapon is still in development.

Sheltering amongst a community of miners, they are discovered and the fate of the village rests on their shoulders.  in the meantime, the weapon is unleashed on Mon Mothma`s planet, and the senate forced into action...

Opinion

Nope.  This wasn`t really my cup of tea.  While it features some more shism exploration between Anakin and Obi Wan, it`s more or less a long drawn out tale that feels like it has been seen before... a lot. And that makes it all feel to rushed in the final chapters.

Now, I`m not saying this because it`s Wars and not Trek, as I really loved the Thrawn series for example, but, if to best illustrate my feel about it, it leaves the same aftertaste in my mouth as the prequels did...

That`s not to say everything about this book is bad, and especcially the Sidious / Yoda political battles are nice to read, but in general I think this would / could have been a better story if it could just be like 50 or 100 pages longer.

Inspirational Lego # 85

Another monday, so here we go with a fresh amount of awesome builds found on the internet, in the hopes that you get inspired as well and moc the living daylights out of your collection ;-)

Or just want to see some nice things before a fresh working week :-D

We start the week with an awesome rendition of Puerto Polo, from the excellent Monkey Island games.  Who said the Pirate life wasn`t something hilarious and chaotic, especcially if your name is Guy.







This abandoned base makes fantastic use of discoloured white elements...

An excellent rendition of the Ant-Man movie poster.

A microscale encounter between the Enterprise and a Klingon Bird of Prey.

This build makes it all look a bit more feisty and spices things up a little on monday morning

The egyptian gods also make their presence felt with this great use of the Mixels joints and all.

Dumbledore's Statue, a vignette from Harry Potter

The very first US submarine, developped by the Confederates to try and break the Union blockage, is a gorgeous piece of historical building.

If like me you're a kid of the 80s and "saturday morning" cartoons, you will definitly remember Jace and the Wheeled Warriors.

A great microscale build of Ghostbusters, I love the details like the tiny ECTO-1 and all.

And so we have it again, a selection of 10 cool moc's out there, and I hope you love 'em!