That’s right, folks: for a third time, the staff of LEGO CUUSOO have chosen my entry — the LEGOformers for the weekly pick! Each week, the website showcases a chosen entry that’s based on a weekly theme, such as Star Wars, history, modular, video games, animals, sports, architecture et al; several months back, I made the staff pick for “robots”, then in the summer I got picked again for “video games” — and since these entries hold strong amongst fans and admins alike, these LEGO models made another robot pick!

Share my CUUSOO entry with everyone amongst these internets! Support my entry simply by logging in and leaving feedback. With enough votes of support, the employees of LEGO will personally review these models as potentially being sold as real toys. In fact, this is precisely how the recent LEGO Minecraft series first got launched — as a fan suggestion just like this!

-Baron von Brunk

The outer frame of my giant LEGO NES controller is now 100% complete — decorated, tiled, and all! As of now, I’m awaiting the electrical wiring, which I shall do this weekend, hopefully. I’ve got my soldering iron ready, as well as an original working NES controller to take apart and use for electrical components. Under each of these spring-loaded buttons will be small momentary switches will shall be soldered to the innards of an NES controller, then will connect to my laptop via USB in order to play ROMs!

Hopefully the wiring, photo shoot, and video will be completed this coming weekend. Get ready, faithful Brunkamaniacs!

-Baron von Brunk

“You have the right to remain… Fabulous!”

-Baron von Brunk

More teaser photos of my giant LEGO NES Controller project! The tiling is almost complete, then it’s a matter of adding the Start/Select buttons and electrical wiring. Awaiting more pieces to arrive in the mail (as usual).

Give it a week or so until completion.

-Baron von Brunk

“And I’ll form the head!”

Size comparison of my work-in-progress LEGO NES controller, with one of my large Voltron toys as a reference point. I took a break from working on this since the past month or so whilst I was working on my TARDIS, and now I’m making the last steps of progress of this giant controller. The roof is actually kind if tricky to attach: the original primary chassis was intended to have a fixed [permanently attached roof] with doors on the front to modify the internal wires — however I decided that wouldn’t be a good idea in case of repairs, ergo I made three large tiled roof sections that slide off/on.

The problem now is with “LEGO-bowing” for the roof sections — or “The Von Brunk Effect” as I call it. Basically, when several or more long flat LEGO pieces (usually plates) are attached together as a flat object, the overall piece begins to warp in the middle due to lack of support. In this case, the roof sections of this giant controller cave in in the middle and appear distorted, which means I’ll have to put in more support. Here’s a good example of The Von Brunk Effect: if you attach let’s say 20 different 4x8 plates together in a series, the connection of parts will gradually curve in the middle and appear crooked, and the curve will be more warped depending on how long the series is in conjunction with the thinness of the pieces. This can be fixed with adding more layers of plates or bricks on top/underneath as like small beams and trusses, but unfortunately adds extra deadweight to the structure. See the last photo in this set to see the work-in-progress of the 3rd roof section — both the top and underside.

As for the wiring of this unit, I have all of the necessary electrical components, and soon I’ll solder this bad boy and get it up and running!

LEGO Doctor Who TARDIS, a custom commission for Nelson Lugo of Epic Win Burlesque!

My first ever custom creation made for a client, as well as my first ever LEGO creation to use unconventional outside methods such as glue, paint and sanding; as in the past, I’ve only stuck true to authentic pieces and occasionally used stickers, batteries or lights — but always LEGO parts for infrastructure. This massive brute stands almost 2-feet tall, weighs a helluva lot and is firmly held together via several tubes of Krazy Glue. This total project was worked on gradually throughout mid August 2012, and was just completed on September 9th. The stickers were designed by me in Adobe Illustrator and printed at a local shop in Manhattan, the same place that made my SEGA and Sonic stickers for Gearhead the Game Gear Transformer.

The TARDIS you see here is the second edition of this project, or “TARDIS mk.2” as I’ve dubbed it: initially Nelson and I decided I should build a LEGO TARDIS in its entirety as a mockup to gauge the amount of parts needed as well as its functionality, and once the first draft was approved, it was torn to pieces and glued together into the particular one shown here. The TARDIS mk.1 (the prototype) can be found on Epic Win’s Facebook fan page — so be sure to like them! The second model took about a week to reconstruct and glue together, which was a tedious process to ensure accuracy — since any errors with Krazy Glue were irrevocable. The hardest part to do was to come up with a solution to having the roof sturdy and glued whilst simultaneously hollow with a delicate battery/light box. The roof is glued but hollow on the inner area, with the lightbulb, battery, switch and wires all contained within an unglued makeshift LEGO lantern module I came up with. This module slides in and out of the hollow roof, so that batteries can be replaced or wires can be amended prior to the start of the show (see photo #4).

This box is actually a stage prop for a forthcoming magic/burlesque show of the science fiction persuasion — Sci-Fi TV Burlesque, presented by Epic Win and debuting next weekend in New York City. The main question I’ve been asked thus far is if there’s something special inside, like an illusion to make it appear larger inside than outside. I shan’t divulge what the innards look like, as that’ll spoil the magic trick — so you’ll just have to RSVP for the show and see for yourself! In the meantime, check out the illuminated beacon atop, which uses two 9V batteries and a small flashlight bulb (the same used in my Super Mario 3 airship) rigged up with wires and a switch to add more to the effect, as mentioned previously.

Make sure to follow Epic Win on Twitter, and check out Nelson Lugo’s Tumblr for his magic and burlesque endeavors!

(poster design by me with model: Stormy Leather)

The outer walls to form the chassis of my giant NES controller are now up! Now I’m installing beams & trusses, before putting in the electrical wiring and ultimately the roof (and fixing the buttons). Thousands of LEGO pieces have been used thus far, and whole thing goes across an entire 60-inch table!

-Baron von Brunk

Now that the bulk of the grey pieces have arrived, I’ve gone further with making the giant NES controller. The foundation is constructed of several baseplates attached together, which goes to almost 5 feet in width across the folding table. The total height of the chassis should be about 7 inches tall, and about now it’s 2-3 inches. The controller is made almost perfectly to scale of a real NES controller, give or take a few centimeters or so due to LEGO brick sizes. The placement of the buttons in relativity to one another is on the same size/aspect ratio of a real controller!

I also recently picked up the wiring equipment from Radio Shack, and I’m awaiting a USB NES controller to arrive in the mail. Naturally I’ll take out the innards of the controller, then wire some momentary pushbuttons underneath the large A, B, Start, Select, & D-Pad components. Using Technic shock absorbers, the large buttons retract smoothly, and will make contact to the pushbuttons when touched. I haven’t soldered since 11th grade metal shop, so let’s hope I don’t fuck this up.

Photo 1) Panoramic view of the total size layout, with the buttons in their proper spots. Now comes the challenge: building the colossal chassis!

Photo 2) For the chassis of the giant NES controller — over 6,400 LEGO pieces — all bricks, all light-grey! These 800-1,600 piece bulk boxes were purchased at various LEGO Stores in New Jersey. Fun fact: you don’t have to limit yourself to pick-a-brick cups — if you ask nicely, certain stores will allow you to purchase one of their stock boxes for $70, and you get hundreds to thousands of a single type/color LEGO piece!

3) The early foundation, much resembling the ancient ruins of Greece. The icetray layout is intended to become the beam/truss structure to make the controller sort of hollow, but not being rickety.

-Baron von Brunk

More work in progress photos of my giant NES controller project, made entirely out of LEGO! So far, I’ve created the large buttons and built the mechanism to allow them retract and act as real controller buttons. Using Technic brick shock absorbers, I’m able to have the specially-design units slide in and out of the module casings, similar to a real video game controller — on a much larger scale!

The buttons are basically done; Now comes the challenge: building the colossal chassis!

-Baron von Brunk

My next monumental LEGO/Nintendo project shall be a gargantuan work that surpasses what I’ve created thus far! The entire controller will span over the top of a large folding table, and the buttons are actually going to be soldered to work for real — working as a USB gamepad for use with any ROM and emulator! At this point, I’ve acquired over 8,000 pieces to use, and when complete, this project shall be larger and heavier than my Super Mario Bros. 3 airship “The Fireflower!”

To make the buttons function, each button section has had Technic shock absorbers installed on them, to give a spring mechanism — which them uses padding to press up against Radio Shack momentary switches. The switches will eventually be soldered to the circuits of a USB gamepad.

In the blueprint diagram, the blue area represents the table in my workshop, whilst the white square outlines represent large baseplates. The larger squares are 32 x 32 studs, and the narrower ones on the bottom are 16 x 32.

-Baron von Brunk

“The Wreck of The Fireflower.”

Rather than cluttering my spare room — and to convert it into a workstation, I’ve dismantled the legendary Fireflower airship and stored its partially intact wreckage in a giant 47-gallon plastic storage tote. I can’t predict when I’ll move into a new house/apartment where my ship can be rebuilt and put on permanent display (where I’ll also increase the size, now that I won’t be limited to tabletop space). Also perhaps a toy store or gallery here in New York will gladly take this ship off my hands, and I’ll certainly rebuild and donate it to their space! (hint hint, FAO Schwarz, if you’re reading this…)

In the fourth photo, you’ll see a large side panel that was accidentally torn off the side of the stern following the initial photo shoot in February. If you recall, once Roz and I wrapped up the session, the kick bar that was propping up the trapdoor hinge of the roof fell off, and a chain reaction of the hinges ripped off the entire starboard side of the ship’s cabin!

With the tabletop space now saved, I’ll have plenty of room to work on my next LEGO/Nintendo related project — which shall be one of my biggest and most ambitious projects to date. Stay tuned…

-Baron von Brunk

“Baron von Brunk’s Batmobile Brick Build-a-Thon Bonanza!”

http://www.facebook.com/events/124080974401577/ - Facebook event page

Next Saturday in Times Square, the folks at Ripley’s Believe it or Not have commissioned me to do a jolly good performance art event to kick off the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises — I shall be assembling a giant 5-foot Batmobile sculpture entirely from over 12,000 LEGO pieces, from start to finish — hopefully under 24 hours!

If you’re in the New York City area, mosey on down to Ripley’s on July 21st and watch me make history! Bring me a pizza and some cans of Monster.

… Baturally, you’d agree.

- Baron von Brunk

At last, the evil Segacon “Gearhead” and his minions Supersonic and Knucklepunch make their debuts as the newest LEGOformers in my array of mechanized warriors!

Following in the same popular footsteps of Domaster & Tetrawing — the Game Boy & Tetris game — this brutal soldier transforms into a bulky SEGA Game Gear, and is accompanied by two Sonic games (Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Blast)! For primary weapons, Gearhead uses his battery blaster rockets attached to the shoulders, and in his left hand is a shotgun cannon powered by Chaos Emeralds! Gearhead transforms 100% without removing parts, and converts back and forth solely through bending/folding joints in his legs, arms, chest and so such.

With the hindsight of the previous LEGOformers, building this project wasn’t as difficult to engineer as expected, as I had my own previous work to reference. However, there were several challenges nonetheless. The first was making room for the games to fit in the back with the batteries simultaneously. This caused me to frequently disassemble the rear pieces and rearrange them in order to allow enough clearance for the cartridges to slide through with ease. Building the games themselves was also a challenge, and despite my best efforts, they’re a little thicker than a typical Game Gear game — and are about as thick as a Genesis cartridge. I had to sacrifice battery space yet again; I’m sure purists will scoff at the fact that this toy only fits two batteries, unlike a real Game Gear which used six AAs. Finally, the issue with the stickers/labels was a painstaking battle that took a third and final attempt to accomplish. Initially I printed custom waterslide clear decals similar to Domaster’s, but alas, they would not appear against black. Then I opted for laser printer address labels from Avery, which were a disaster. At last I discovered a little hole-in-the-wall print shop in Manhattan that printed 8.5”x11” full-page glossy sticker sheets for only $5 — so I crammed every single label graphic (with multiples) onto one big PDF sheet in Adobe Illustrator, and printed it as a master label!

I’d like to dedicate this project to Albert Cadabra, a New York City based magician and sideshow performer: thanks to his good word and connections, I’m soon going to get my own live performance art show involving assembling a giant LEGO sculpture at Ripley’s in Times Square! Also special thanks to Albert’s gorgeous gal-pal Dangrr Doll, a geeky burlesque dancer who performs a staple Sonic the Hedgehog striptease with D20 Burlesque’s “8-Bit Beauties” show!

Full unabridged photo shoot:

All projects built by me during late May to early July 2012, and photographed with my Sony camera and light tent on July 3rd, 2012.

-Baron von Brunk

P.S. - Whilst I never ask for donations, since my LEGO creations are all funded out of my own pocket, I do however ask for feedback and encouragement to keep cranking out the custom models. With that said, I’ve entered my recent LEGOformers to CUUSOO: a website where fans and creators can submit their original LEGO projects with the intention of potentially getting their work mass-marketed in stores as official LEGO toys. If an entry gains 10,000 supporters, the folks in the research & development team at LEGO will personally review the project and consider making it into a real product line! After all, how do you think the forthcoming LEGO Minecraft series got made!? Supporting requires no cash donations whatsoever, and merely involves joining, voting, and leaving feedback!

Quite frankly, I don’t foresee another generation of LEGO Pirates being introduced soon, as the current pirate theme is licensed by Pirates of the Caribbean, and LEGO generally doesn’t release two similar themes simultaneously (an exception to that is of course LEGO Star Wars being sold side-by-side with the Space theme). I think as of now, their main focus for the Fall of 2012 will be Lord of the Rings, DC/Marvel Superheroes, and the Monster Fighters theme.