Me and the wonderful world of Lego

Here is my first steps into Blogging... odd as I am quite old [that doesn't quite sound like I wanted it too!]
You might have seen me on Flickr though.

I love Lego and that's what I'll be blogging about, from great minifigs to awesome mocs via whatever else I find (o:

Monday 21 November 2011

Custom figure round up

Geoshift strikes again, this time with this Praetorian Guard... excellent painting as always (o:




Little workstation moc from Tom Leech... I know I've said this before but check out his stream, it's good. Also, loving the nanofigs Tom (o:

Siercon and Coral bring us this Dawn Valkyrie for the Castle Contest minifig section... nice work! Thumbs up for tinfoil usage (o:
~Cmorganweck~ brings us a nicely painted Apocalyptic Juggernaut... like the contrast with the blue head underneath.

BrickCommand Closing and new items

As I posted earlier, BrickCommand will be closing it's doors in December bringing an end to the avaliability of the 2011 batch of custom accessories. Brett is now taking ideas for the second run of items to be avaliable in the new year. So, is there an accessory you have been itching to see made? Head over to the BrickCommand flickr group and voice your opinion, you never know it might become a reality.

And, to get your hands on some of the 2011 batch of accessories either head over to the BrickCommand website or enter my minifig design contest over on flickr. Brett very generously donated plenty of items to give away as prizes (o:

Friday 18 November 2011

Brick Command closing soon....

Hello! As you know, hopefully, Brett at BrickCommand has very kindly donated some items to use as prizes for the current Star Wars themed Minifig Design contest. Well, he has just informed me that he will shortly be closing his store for an inventory update and will not reopen until January. All the current stock will no longer be avaliable to buy once the store closes. So, get your order in now or enter my contest for what might be your last chance to get hold of some of his wands, swords, throwing stars and stands.


Tuesday 15 November 2011

Arealight printed items

I finally got a hold of some of Arealight's newest printed items. For those of you who haven't heard of Arealight (come on... surely everyone has!) he has been in the business of manufacturing custom helmets, torsos, heads and jetpacks that are minifig compatible. They are very much based in a galaxy far, far away which is why I love them so much. So, onto the new pieces...
First up, the new line of printed jetpacks. Pictured above is Boba Fett sporting his jetpack. It is worth noting that the warhead (here is silver) and the jetpack are two separate parts - I couldn't find my sand green ones so I stuck this silver one in. You can also buy smaller rocket heads to attach to the jetpack as well. The printing here is good, lined up properly and matches really nicely with the official Lego helmet (and, obviously, the corresponding printed helmet Arealight offers). Pictured below are the other printed jetpacks I received, they are all equally well printed and match their corresponding printed helmets arealight offers.
 As you can see, these jetpacks are all pretty well printed and I think they are much better in design than Lego's own version.

Now onto helmets... I have to say, I am not a clone army builder - I like Jedi, Sith and Mandalorians but I thought I would go ahead and get some of these helmets, just to see what they were like.

The middle helmet here is Lego, for a comparison. The Arealight helmets are more compact vertically but a bit longer horizontally (as you can see in the picture below). The printing is pretty good, although is there a reason the camo one has a gap at the back? I dunno, maybe so. I tend to find it a little awkward that Arealight helmets have holes where the eyes are... only because it means you need a black head underneath but that's just my own personal niggle, I'm sure others prefer it this way round. There is a very large range of clone helmets to choose from in his store, plenty for any army builder.

Finally, shadow arf trooper helmet, here compared with the Lego original.

Again, the shaping here is different, not sure which I prefer... maybe Lego just edges it but I do like the silver printed decal on the Arealight helmet. Factor that in with the limited run of the Lego shadow arf trooper and Arealight is onto a winner! 

In conclusion, I am very happy with these items that I got from Arealight. I am particularly fond of the jetpacks and am making some good use of them on my Mandalorian army. They are quite pricy for small bits of printed plastic... but Arealight is offering some genuinely brilliant accessories for any minifig enthusiast. Arealight has always produced good plastic pieces but with the addition of printing he is really raising the bar. If you can afford it I would certianly recommend buying from him. http://www.arealightcustoms.com/shop/home.php

Just found another painter

I have just stumbled upon MR. Jens' Photostream over on flickr and was quite pleasently surprised, he's got some minifig painting going on - and chopping up hair to use with hats... I like that!
Check out a couple of his offerings here...

Brick Command prizes

Brickcommand.net have very kindly donated some of their custom wares for me to offer as prizes in my 'Can you feel the Force?' minifig design contest. Here are a couple of pictures of what's on offer . I will be dividing these into first place and runners-up prizes.

Head over to the contest page on flickr for more details on how to enter the minifig design contest and get in the running to win these kuhl accessories PLUS 15% discount at Firestar toys!

Another awesome Custom from Vieral

A female Rodian custom here from Vieral, his sculpting skills are first class and this is spot on, capturing more than the official rodian head mold I think. Here is an alternate view...


Monday 14 November 2011

Catching up... again, work is crazzzy!

Halo Reach Emile by ~Amadgunslinger~  I'm liking the paint job here...

Quite like this new accessory found in the new Ninjago theme... nifty sword holder, photographed here by legojoker111customs
Some nice new items here from minifigcat - I like the gun and the helmet here...

Nice combo of Lego and Character building... Digger Digger Dogstar beat me to the punch! But, looks good, no?







Sunday 6 November 2011

Catching up with interesting figures


Praiter Yed made me lol with this minifigure... apologies if it causes offense but I've seen loads of pregnant women looking like this!

Dr. Alan Grant by ~Coruscantdefender~  reminding me how much I loved that movie (o:

Tim by Tom Leech - I haven't a clue who this is but it's nice to see people having a go at making a minifig based on a cartoon and trying to capture that vibe.

If you're into custom minifigs you have probably heard of CAB (selling really neat custom printed Lego minifigs on ebay). This awesome Han Solo minifig has been designed by CAB and Tiler. I particularly like the custom hair going on here.

Burakki's Brick Third Custom Minifig Design Contest

I am happy to announce the next minifig design contest to be hosted by myself will be opening shortly. The contest will continue to be sponsored by Firestar Toys, who will be offering the winner 15% discount at their online store. I have also lined up another sponsor, Brick Command and they are contributing some of their custom minifig accessories to be given away as prizes.



This month's contest will require you to design and make a force user from the Star Wars universe, please head over to the contest page on flickr to enter and to find out more information. Thanks!

Halloween Contest Winners!

I am pleased to announce the two winners of Burakki's Bricks Halloween Minifig Design Contest...
Coming first was Morgan190 and his "Blaze Pixie"

You've gotta love Morgan's combination of Lego, non-Lego and presentation techniques.

and second place is the Iron Duke by Fianat
I love to see people having a try at sculpting things for Lego and, although it looks a little rough, thumbs up for the ambitious attempt. If you two could flickr mail me with your details I will get your prizes out to you asap - Morgan, you get to choose which of the two sets you'd like.

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Ooh, I just noticed this...

Brickforge is now selling it's new bottle/laser beam/spillage/glass pieces in various trans colours... look!
I'm loving the printed flasks!
They look sweet! Just wish I had some cash to buy some... damn you recession!! I'm still waiting to put an order in for Arealight backpacks and some M1ngles shapeways stuff... )o:  Still, I'm sure loads of you out there are buying - let me know what they're like!

Halloween Contest....Closed!

My halloween contest over on Flickr has now closed... thank you so much to everyone who entered! I will get the two winners announced sometime this week, possibley nearer to the weekend. November's Minifig Design Contest theme will also be announced by the weekend and I am pleased to announce that I now have 2 sponsors (o:
Firestar toys will be offering the winner of the next monthly contest 15% discount on an order at their store. They stock a wide range of official and custom lego parts and accessories. Pop over to their site and check out their stock - it's particularly good for people in the UK, which is where they are based.

I am pleased to announce that the good people of Brick Command have offered some of their custom wands, wing swords and throwing stars to the winner of the next contest and have offered to support future contests too! Check out their store to see what their accessories look like, I have bought from them before and would again.

I can't thank these guys enough for coming on board with me and giving something back to the community. If anyone else out there would like to sponsor a contest please get in touch! (o:


I'm still alive...

Just really busy... the problem with real life is that it often gets in the way, that's what's happening now... my profession means that I am often so busy I can't even check into Flickr, let alone anything else! So, please bare with me, I will be posting and running contests as much as I possibly can. I have been going through some of the backlog and have picked out a few figs worthy of posting - I am sure I have missed some, sorry! Please draw my attention to anything you think is noteworthy which I have overlooked.

Not technically customized minifigures but the names made me chuckle... here we have minifigs ready for trick or treating, Soldiermort, Dwarlf Vader, Balboa Fett, Lumber Jack, Spider-can and Batman by Ezra Balanga.
Keeper of the Keys here by Mike Bernd - nice Halloween themed minifig here (wish it had been entered into the contest!)  and there are a couple more on his flickr photostream. This figure features a head from citizenbrick.com

Link's Cap DX by M1ngles... yet another must have custom item for all nintendo fans brought to you by M1ngles (and can be bought via his Shapeways store). Can't recommend this guy enough!

Customizer Fianat has caught my eye recently... having a go at sculpting parts to accompany official lego parts. Have a look at some of his customs here...