King Kong, my first Cuusoo project

My first proper MOC in far too long, and also my first submission to Cuusoo: King Kong, eighth wonder of the world!

King Kong is one of my all time favourite films, both the original 1933 version, for it's pioneering visual effects and incredible atmosphere, and the 2005 remake, for bringing Skull Island alive so vividly, and giving us a much more touching relationship between Kong and Ann Darrow. I've yet to see the 1976 version, although I get the impression I'm not missing much there... The original is, incredibly, eighty years old this year!

To celebrate Kong's birthday, and to challenge myself to build something other than a spaceship for once, I decided to build Kong, and have also submitted him to Cuusoo, in the hope he might one day become a real official Lego set as well! As one of the icons of cinema he certainly deserves that privilege!

I've based my Kong mainly on the more realistic gorilla anatomy of the 2005 version, but I hope he feels right standing in for either incarnation. He has articulated hands and limbs, and a poseable head, so it's possible for him to stand on all fours, just about stable up on his hind-legs, and he can also carry Ann.

I've cobbled Ann together from existing minifigure prints, so a bit awkwardly she has white socks on with her white dress. If the set got made I'm sure she'd have a better outfit designed. I think the Hollywood starlet hair is perfect for her though.

Most of the parts in my design are readily available, although I did use the bulb-pin type pieces for his fingers tips, to give them a nice organic roundness. These are currently only available in transparent colours or metallic silver, so for the purposes of finishing my model I actually coloured a few in with a marker pen! The first time I've modified a Lego piece in that way - I feel like I've committed a crime, but he looked silly with bright coloured see-through finger tips! Should the Cuusoo project get the required support, and Lego chose to carry that element of the design over to the final set, then that part would become available in black, or maybe dark grey (to match the other fleshier highlights), for the first time.

When I was initially thinking about making him I had in mind that I would couple him up with the T-Rex (or V-Rex in the remake), to recreate the encounter between the two in the film. As I was building him I realised thought that Kong on his own would be quite a large set by Cuusoo standards so far (his torso alone is the size of the Delorean), so for the Cuusoo proposal I've just done Kong on his own. I'll probably still have a crack at making a T-Rex for fun too though, and maybe a biplane as well, for another fun combination.

There are a few more pictures after the jump. If you like my build, or you're a fan of King Kong, or just like gorillas, please make your way to the Cuusoo proposal and add your support. He'll need ten-thousand supporters to be put to the Cuusoo review for consideration to become a real set. So please also share him around your preferred social media to help drum up some support! It's a long shot given the number of Cuusoo projects already in review, but I really like the idea of the eighth wonder of the world becoming the eighth Cuusoo set!

2014 set rumours

All of a sudden there seem to be a lot of rumours detailing some of the late-2013 and early-2014 Lego sets. Below you'll find details and set lists for new themes including Disney Princess, The Simpsons, The Lego Movie, as well as all the returning themes: Star Wars, The Hobbit, Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Friends, City, Legends of Chima, Ninjago, Junior, and Creator. Keep in mind though these are rumours at this stage.

Continue after the jump for a theme by theme listing. Updated October 9th.

Official images of the new Minecraft sets

Due out next month are two new Minecraft sets, setting a new precedent in not being Cuusoo projects themselves, but building upon the success of a Cuusoo set (21102 Minecraft Micro World). Eurobrick's GRogall has released images of the two new sets, 21105 The Village and 21106 The Nether:

 

 

Ghostbusters gets to Cuusoo review

Another Cuusoo proposal, featuring the Ghostbusters, has passed the ten-thousand supporters mark, meaning it is now in the queue for review, with the possibility of it becoming an official set. The proposed set would be the Ghostbusters' car, Ecto-1, along with the Ghostbusters team, and the ghost Slimer (the latter of which makes inspired use of the existing Star Wars Huttlet molds)

It will be some time before we know the fate of this project, as there are several other Cuusoo review periods awaiting outcomes before this will be up for consideration. I expect it has a pretty good chance though, with a similar case to the just released Back to the Future set; a popular and iconic film, a distinctive design, and a realistic sized set for the mass market.

Review: 21103 Back to the Future - Delorean Time Machine

Out now is fourth set to successfully pass through the Lego Cuusoo system; gathering ten-thousand supporters, ticking all Lego's boxes, and being made into a real Lego set.

21103 Back to the Future Delorean Time Machine comes in a slightly sturdier box than your average set, with the front opening as a flap, allowing you to use the box as a tray. The instructions are also a bit chunkier than your average book for a set of this size, printed on thicker paper than usual. I guess Lego want to give a nice impression for any Lego-newbies picking this up for the Back to the Future novelty.

The first picture here has the box and everything in it, which includes a brick-separator, and whole bunch of extra parts; not just your usual spares of the smaller bits, but addition parts which allow you to rebuild the set in three different forms, which is probably the coolest, and one of the most unique, aspects of this set.

The first build, with the various extra parts to tweak it into other versions of the Delorean.

Continue after the jump for a look at the parts, minifigures, and features of this set:

MOC Daleks

Everyone excited about Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, and the forthcoming regeneration to Doctor number twelve? Good, so you should be! Especially as the Daleks are involved, and Daleks are cool (like bowties, and fezzes, and stetsons...). Lego builder Steven Locke would evidently agree with that, as it seems he's a bit of a Lego Dalek specialist; if you check out his MOCpages you'll find all variety of Daleks, from the classic greys to the technicolour horrors that seem to be being quietly forgotten lately.

Here are my favourites from his collection: The greys, the brilliant ironside Daleks ("WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME TEEEEEA?"), and the lovely bronze Daleks of the new era, including the impressive Emperor and Supreme Dalek variants:

Be sure to check out Steven Locke's MOCpages to see more of his Dalek creations. I shall leave you with my very favourite Dalek quote, from comedian Frankie Boyle, on Mock the Week some years ago:

WELCOME TO MY DALEK POETRY READING,
THIS ONE IS CALLED DAFFODILS.
EXTERMINATE DAFFODILS!

New Mindstorms alternative builds

With EV3, the third generation of Lego's Mindstorms robotics system, due out next month, Lego have announced the new set will feature twelve additional builds, alongside the five models detailed in the box. Instructions for the twelve alternative designs, which have been created by members of the Mindstorms fan community, will be available to download once the EV3 is launched. Robot Squared posted images of each of the alternate designs, check them out (continues after the jump):

EL3CTRIC GUITAR, by Daniele Benedettelli - Play music (with the sensor slider I guess)

BOBB3E, by Kenneth Madsen - A forklift truck

EV3D4, by Vassilis Chryssanthakopoulos - A little Star Wars inspiration

Serenity MOCed

Having recently watched Firefly for the first time (Gasp! I know, I am not worthy of considering myself a sci-fi fan for such lack of attention to a modern classic) I have an extra bit of appreciation for this neat little MOC of the star ship of the show, Serenity, made by Baron von Brunk:

Baron von Brunk will actually be giving this away, at a Firefly themed burlesque show (yes you read that correctly) in New York, this weekend. You can find out more about that event, here, and see more of the model, here.

Theme Guide: Lego Minifigures, Series 11

The eleventh series of the Collectible Minifigures is set for release next month. Lego have now released official images of all the new characters, giving us a closer look at yet another irresistible collection of new minifigures, with some cool new parts, and subjects never before rendered in Lego form.

As we saw when scans of the leaflet for this series were posted online a couple of weeks ago, this series comes in green packaging.

Continue reading for thoughts and analysis of each figure in the new series.

Yeti

• My absolute favourite of this series is the oh-so-cute little yeti. The cool blue details on this guy make him look suitably icy, including the blue lollypop - The first time that food part has been offered in a blue I believe.
  
  This is at least Lego's second Yeti, having previously released a big-figure version in the Orient Expedition set 7412 Yeti's Hideout. This new version obviously somewhat less imposing than the previous larger design, but has so much more character!
  
  The only place I think they missed a trick here is that the face appears to be printed on the new molded headpiece. It might have been nice for the blue part to have been an opening, with a standard minifigure head inside; allowing Lego to include an interesting alternative head print hidden behind the hair.

Island Warrior

• Here we have Lego's latest minifigure inspired by the world's cultures; in this case a Polynesian islander with an impressive tiki-style mask.
  
  Perhaps a perfect companion for the hula dancer from way back in series 3, but I'm sure this guy is reminding most Lego fans of the classic Pirates: Islanders series; a new native person for the pesky pirates to deal with.

Scientist

• A rare, and very welcome, non-stereotypical female minifigure! They still managed to sneak in a purple top beneath the lab-coat, and a purple pen in her pocket, but that's pretty mild compared to the garish pink that adorns so many of the females in the Minifigures range!
  
  Trumping Series 4's male "Crazy Scientist", this professional looking researching comes with two flasks, ready to equip her Lego lab.
  
  Hopefully we'll see more figures like this both in future Collectible Minifigures series, and if the female minifigures project passes the Cuusoo review.

FTL reaches Cuusoo review

Another Cuusoo project has passed the ten-thousand supporters mark, and thus is now in the queue for Lego's review, to determine whether it has what it takes to become a real Lego set. Once again a video-game community has amassed to get the required supporters, this time with a proposal based on the game Faster Than Light. The final suggestion for the Cuusoo project is a set of three mini-ship models, although the creators floated many other ship designs before settling on this selection.

I'd not heard of FTL before, as far as I can gather the game focuses on maintaining a ship's operations by looking after all your systems, rather than focusing on shooty space battles. At a glance that would at least seem to be child-friendly enough for Lego. I can't really say the proposed set excites me all that much though, the ship on the right looks kind of neat, but not so much that I'd want to get a set to have one. The scale at least seems quite reasonable, and probably quite fun too, having a bunch of little starships to swoosh about.

FTL will be in the autumn review, alongside the female minifigures project and the ATLAS detector, as well as any other projects that get the required supporters in time. Before we hear anything about those though, we still have the outcome of nine other projects to hear about waiting in the winter, spring, and summer review piles!