Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

If you haven't read the graphic novel The Watchmen, you certainly should. IMO the movie didn't hold a candle to the original. The plot is centered around a retired team of superheroes like the Justice League of America or the Avengers, but only one of them has super powers. The rest are more like Batman - acting based on superb physical training and technological gadgets. Anyway, a decade or so before the main action, superheroes were outlawed (like in the Incredibles), and so most went into training. Someone, though, is killing these retired heroes, and this brings the others back into action. The whole story is very gritty and dark - definitely not for kids. Anyway, Paul Lee put together a LEGO version of the movie poster.

Creations for Charity

Creations for Charity is a chance for you to buy the creations of other LEGO builders, and all of the proceeds go to buy LEGO for Toys for Tots. Julian Fong is donating a number of great customized minifigures including Wonder Woman, Deadshot, and Zatanna. These figs were made using waterslide decals as well as some painting, cutting and gluing, and acrylic.

Trick or treat

Okay, a little late for Halloween, but check out these great costumes.

Best ... villain ... ever

Andrew Becraft put together a rendition of Magneto using available LEGO elements that is simply perfect.

Nanananananananana - Bat Theme!

Between 2006 and 2008, LEGO released 13 sets in the Batman theme. One of the first released, and, at $10, a cheap way to get Batman himself, was 7779, Catwoman Pursuit



As a building set this was not great. The dragster was kind of silly, based mostly on the long curved wedge element and the large bat wing. The gatling gun on the front is kind of nice, though that design was around in MOCs before this set. Also Catwoman's motorcycle is just your basic one-piece (well, more like 6 piece) design, even though you can make an amazing motorcycle using LEGO elements. For me this set was all about the figs. These are great renditions of both Bruce and Selina. Okay, I'm not thrilled about these being flesh-toned rather than yellow, but I'm over that by now. Also, due to the placement of the eye-holes in the cowls, you can't easily interchange with another head, but you're pretty much going to use these figures as originally built rather than as fodder for making your own characters. It's also nice that Catwoman's head is double-sided, so you can view here with or without her goggles.

You can view the inventory at Peeron, the instructions at LEGO.com, or buy a copy at BrickLink. (Holy cow! It starts at $80. I'm very tempted to sell mine now.)

Vulture

Nelson Yrizarry has made a great number of scenes staring Spider-Man and foes such as the Vulture.

Dark Knight

Alex Schranz built this Dark Knight as a reinterpretation of Fredoichi's bust that I blogged a few days ago.

Spoon!

Adrian Drake built a bust of the spoof-hero, the Tick.

Iron Man

The Arvo brothers made this awesome Iron Man.

What's the worst comic-book movie ever?

Catwoman certainly has to be up there on the list. Anyway, Teti-tots came up with a cube-dude version of Batman's felonius feline foe. Holy alliteration, Batman!

Caped crusader

Fredoichi made this great Batman bust based on the animated TV show version.



Via the Brothers-Brick.

Emblematic emblems

Michael Taylor made a series of iconic superhero emblems.

This little light of mine

Dawn of the Brick modified minifigs with working lights to make Tony Stark and Whiplash.

Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stranger

BlockoLUG presents Heath Ledger's Joker, disguised for the bank robbery scene in the Dark Knight.

Dark Knight

This was a photo I just quickly threw together for photo captioning over on Classic-Castle.

Presto changeo

In another new MOC, BlockoLUG captures Clark Kent in the act of changing out of his suit and tie.

In brightest day, in blackest night

Ring need charging? Use JustJon's Green Lantern Power Battery. It's even got a light-up power function. (Another fairly recent MOC, btw - see, I'm not just all about dredging up old MOCs.)

Mr. Sandman, send me a dream ...

Okay, this is a different kind of comic, but my favorite graphic novels are by far the Sandman tales penned by Neil Gaiman. Shane Larson made a great series of MOCs based on these haunting stories.

Look! Up in the sky!

It's a MOC by me. Some time ago now I made this Superman. Notice, I don't personally do customization, so if you look at this from a different angle you'll see that Clark is sporting a plane blue torso rather than his signature S.

New Gothopolis

Here's one that really takes me back. About ten years ago, Tim Saupe, creator of FBTB visited LEGO's North American headquarters. While there he saw a great creation sitting on the desk of Master Builder Erik Varszegi, New Gothopolis. This 48x48 baseplate was packed with buildings from both the Marvel and DC universes, like the Daily Planet building and Dr. Strange's mansion. Of course it was also populated with custom figs, ranging from Two-Face to Galactus and Thor to the Flash. Doors pop open to reveal furnished interiors, and there's even Clark Kent changing to Superman via a revolving door. Follow the link to see all the great details.





A big thanks to Ace Kim, admin over at FBTB, for re-uploading these pictures for me.