The Lego Manticore

So I was watching Merlin (the BBC TV show) tonight and fiddling around with Legos at the same time.  I was halfheartedly trying to make something interesting Liam (my son) and I could add to one of our adventures tomorrow.

I decided to see if I could use one of Liam's Hero Factory guys, mix it will some typical Lego bricks, and make something cool.  Turns out the TV show I was watching (Merlin) happened to have a "Manticore" in it.  So by the time it ended... this is what I came up with:

I connected the Hero Factory body to the Lego bricks via a a cross bar as shown here:

 

I had it out for Liam to find this morning when he woke up.  It went great with his Ninjago Ice Dragon.  So fun.

Dalek's and Darth Vador

I just had to post these pictures I found of Lego Dalek's in a Lego Star Wars world. My wife and I had a good laugh looking at these:




For those of you unfamiliar with Dalek's, they're a race of robot bad guys from a British TV show called Dr. Who. If you're in the market for a fun sci-fi family show, check it out. It's one of my family's favorites.

I discovered these fabulous pictures after stumbling upon StampaWompa's flikr page. Thank's StampaWompa!

Lego Robo Champ Game

My son, Liam, was pretty excited to try out the new Lego game, Robo Champ.  And I must say, for a 5-year-old, it's a pretty cool game.

There are three robots: green, blue, and red.  When you first open the game you follow the usual Lego instructions and assemble the robots.  Then you take off all of their arms, legs, and heads, and put them into the "scrap" pile.  Finally, starting with the youngest player, you roll the dice to see which color body part you get to take from the pile.  The object of the game is to have your head, arms, and legs be the same color (though not necessarily the same color as your chosen body).

Lego always has you change up rules here and there.  Liam, my wife, and I played with the following rules (based on the six-sided die you roll):

• Green: Take a green piece (arm/leg/head) from the pile or another player
• Red: Take a red piece from the pile or another player
• Blue: Take a blue piece from the pile or another player
• Black: Put a piece back into the pile
• White: Take any piece of your choice
• Multi-colored: Switch any of your pieces with those from the pile or with another player

The game would be no fun for teens, but for my son (who is 5) and I, it's been quite fun.  I give it four out of five stars.

HOLY STUDS!!! I almost forgot to mention the cool eye pieces that come with this set.  They're 1x1 circles/studs with holes.  They make great robot eyes, and I've never seen them anywhere except in this set.  My particular set came with 7 such pieces (2 eyes for each of the 3 robots, plus an extra).

Ice Cream Shop

Time for Ice Cream! 
People from all over Lego City head to the Lego Ice Cream Shop on hot days.  They have great ice cream and tons of flavors!  Seriously, who doesn't love ice cream? For all interested, I've included building instructions and a pieces required list.

My Plan to Surprise My Son...
My plan is to stick all the Lego bricks into a plastic Ziploc back and then stick the bag into a big paper envelope.  I'll stick a piece of paper into the envelope with a "Lego" logo printed on it and the URL to my instructions online.  Then I'll pretend like the set came in the mail.  My son will be ecstatic!  A cool new set to build!  We'll pull up the instructions on my iPad (they fit great), and we'll build it together.  So fun... and FREE (cause they're all pieces I already had)!  Seriously, what's more fun that building Legos with your kids?


Instructions
Here are the instructions (click on the picture):

Click for building instructions

Pieces Required
Here are the required Lego pieces (click on the picture for the full list).  Find these common pieces from your own Lego bricks to recreate this set.  If you don't have the right colors or parts, improvise!:

Click for required pieces

Rock and Flowers

5, a photo by -infomaniac- on Flickr.

I love little scenes that look like a shot from a movie. I particularly LOVE this rock. brilliant. I also love the placing of the flowers, so cool.

I've been a bit unimpressed with the way the Ninjago ninjas carry their swords (with the little clip on the back of their helmet thing). I think that sticking the sword through the side pouch the guy in the foreground is carrying is fantastic.

And the pick flowers, SWEET. I think I'm going to go to "pick a brick" and buy a ton of pink flowers just because of this awesome creation.

Good contrast, a nice focusing point, excellent balance... this is Lego art work.

I love it! Can you tell?

Plo Koon's "Prometris Dune Speeder"

Plo Koon, member of the Jedi Counsel, is famous for saying, "My only weapon is the force."  However as an accomplished star fighter pilot, Plo Koon never hesitates to use a powerful vehicle when he has the chance.

One of the vehicles Master Plo often used during the clone wars was the Prometris Dune Speeder.  This particular model was altered/enhanced by the republic so it could act as both a powerful weapon and as a fast, stealthy machine.

Building instructions are located here: Lego Instructions: Plo Koon's Speeder.

Click on the image to download PDF instructions.

These are the pieces you'll need: Click Here for Lego Pieces Required

Click on the image to see the required pieces.

Queen Anne's Revenge

Queen Anne's Revenge is one of the most amazing, and most fun sets I've ever built. I did it with my 5-year-old, and we both had a blast. There were, of course, a couple of things he needed me to do (e.g. the sails), but the instructions were clear and the ship was well designed.



My wife even thought it classy enough to let me leave it on top of the piano for a while... And that's saying something.



So if you can deal with it's price tag (which is a bit hard to swallow: $120), I highly recommend it.