I Scream For NEOPOLITIM

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I’ve been into LEGO all my life, and running this blog for over 6 years now. I’m kinda old and kinda jaded, and not much makes me squee like a little girl. But today, I’m happy to announce I squee’d, I squee’d hard. Today this little guy arrived in the mail from writer, artist and all around renaissance man Craig Kyle. Craig contacted me earlier this week about Tim here and while the hundreds made sold out in a stunning 93 minutes, he still had one to generously send me. Of course I jumped at the opportunity and today he arrived, and he’s as good as eating all the chocolate in the Neapolitan (yeah, I would totally do that).

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While I’m not an avid minifigure collector I do have quite a few. That is unless you’re counting the ones used for stop motion animation, then I have hundreds. I mean the ones that stay together and get displayed, and those amount to just a select few. Well you can be absolutely sure this little guy will be proudly on display at BrickNerd HQ. The problem is how to display him, because he comes packed in hands down the most clever and cute packaging i’ve seen for a minifigure, maybe for any collectable I’ve ever possessed.

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I mean check it out, he comes in a little custom printed ice cream tub! And he’s not just rolling around inside, there’s a printed die cut paper “ice cream” layer for him! And you don’t just get the figure, he’s holding a cone topped with miniature him in one hand and a scoop in the other. Also included is a custom printed base.

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Everywhere you look at this figure, and the packaging, it’s custom. Craig partnered with those mad geniuses at Citizen Brick to do the pad printing on the 100% genuine LEGO elements. And he’s printed all over, from his waffle pattern pants to his “eat me” hat. Even the micro figure is printed front and back. The attention to detail, whimsy and humor in this little guy has me smiling ear to ear (and strangely enough craving ice cream, hmm). Thank you very much Craig, I’ll cherish him.

While NEOPOLITIM is sold out, Craig has other things in the works. Follow him on Instagram and check out his website Lemon Scented Ninja to keep up on the progress.

Building The Falcon With Adam Savage And The Tested Team

This week I had the distinct pleasure of building the most awesome LEGO set of all time with the most awesome group of people of all time, Tested.com. We spent two days building, shooting, sharing stories and having a load of fun geeking out on this spectacular set. 

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We also had the classic UCS Falcon on hand for a direct comparison during the build. We were continually surprised and delighted at not only the upgrades from the original, but how vastly different they were. Besides being the same size and of the same ship, they're two very different builds.

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We worked out a great system of teams of sorters, knollers, feeders and builders. While it did necessitate the dismantling of the instructions, it made the build quite a bit quicker, resulting in a build time somewhere around 12 hours. And that includes time that the team needed to break away and do their normal Tested.com content, like podcasts. 

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Tested.com is one of my favorite websites and YouTube channels, and of course Adam is the protonerd, so just spending time with the team was an absolute pleasure. Combine that with pretty much the greatest LEGO set of all time, and it was a memorable two days I will never forget. Check out the video on YouTube and for the extended editions consider becoming a Tested.com premium member (I am). I'd like to thank Adam, Norm, Sean and the rest of the Tested crew for welcoming me into their domain. And of course a huge thank you to LEGO for providing this review copy of what is sure to be a legendary set.

Holy Timepieces! LEGO Batman Alarm Clock And Watch

ClicTime, the official timepiece licensee for LEGO, makes the coolest timepieces. They recently hooked me up with a Batman alarm clock and watch to share with you. Check out the video then enter to win your own Batman watch below.

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The LEGO Batman Movie: Spoiler-Free Review

Last night I went to see The LEGO Batman Movie. Yes, it was the day after the opening day (what can I say, I'm a busy guy), and yes it was in a theater full of children, but it's a family movie, and I wanted to experience it with it's target audience. Besides, I'm effectively a 12 year old, just ask my wife. I went in with pretty high expectations, The LEGO Movie was pretty awesome, and Batman was my favorite character from that, so the bar was high. I'm happy to say it did not disappoint, I loved it.

It has everything, action, laughs, heart-felt moments, excellent dialog, top-notch performances, more action, more laughs and so many subtle (and not so subtle) references and easter eggs that it will take another couple viewings just to take it all in. The writing is fantastic, and it has...*gasp* ...a story! And it's not just yet another bad guy threatens Gotham, batman saves the day sort of tired narrative (it is, of course, a subplot) but at it's core it's a film about family, being alone, and being afraid of loss. Real, genuine, emotional content from a bunch of polygons rendered to look like a bunch of toys. That's not a trivial accomplishment. CG features are a dime a dozen these days, but few are really capable of evoking an emotional response beyond a couple chuckles. The film starts out heavy on action, then slows down pretty abruptly. If I have a minor complaint it's with the pacing, when it slows down, it slams on the brakes. Judging by the fidgeting in the theater, the kids felt the same. 

The talent gathered to bring this to the screen is so good it's hard to grasp. I didn't read much before viewing, and I only knew a few key cast members. But during the credits I was thrilled to see so many A-list names. That's the power of the DC and LEGO brands, and the faith in the filmmakers to do this properly. This is a spoiler-free review, and those names were a surprise to me, so I'll let you be surprised too. I am also proud to know several people involved in this production, and I tip my hat to all you crazy talented artists and technicians. And before you ask, no, I didn't work on the movie. I did do some animation for some of the promotional tie-ins, but I had nothing to do with the feature.

One of the things I love most about this film, and The LEGO Movie, and from the preview The Ninjago Movie, is the care the filmmakers take to ground the film in classic brick filming. Subtle things like adding barbs to hands during fast moves to simulate motion blur, swapping out tubing for arms when they need to stretch or squash, staying true to building techniques that we have to use in the real world. Of course, in CG you can break any rule you'd like, but they "keep it real" for the most part. Of course, for better animation they play fast and loose with things like shoulder attachments, hips and general limitations of the Minifig design. And of course, Batman's cowl has a full range of emotions and flexibility that simply would be impossible in actual bricks. But there's a story to tell and I understand why they did it. The simple inability to make a figure shrug has frustrated me in the past, why purposefully hamstring yourself? I feel the filmmakers struck a good balance in what's possible and what's practical.

But like I said, this is a story about family, and it's a welcome departure from the gritty, depressing Batman content of late. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed Nolan's trilogy, but you have to admit, they're a bit...dark. And I don't want to ever see anything as campy and stupid as Shumachers' Batman and Robin ever again, but a little levity and self awareness would be appreciated. And don't get me started on Batman v Superman, I stand by my original 9 word review: "A plodding, uninteresting mopefest intermittently interrupted by catastrophe porn". I found this film not only faithful to the history of Batman, but downright reveling in it. It's self-awareness was evident, and makes for some great laughs and sweet nostalgia. The themes of the film make for some insightful moments, and genuine character arcs, all with a group of characters and an environment we are all so familiar with they feel like relatives and places we have visited. Yet this film feels fresh, earnest and willing to please. And please it does, I give it 5 out of 5 Nerdlys.