#lego behind the scenes

[brickcentral]

Hello there!

We've asked to our spotlighted artist SKABRAM.builds to provide an exclusive picture for @brickcentral along with some insights on how he made it, and here's what she have to say:

"I had this photo in mind for quite some time and now finally took it! This model was finished a couple of months ago, but I never took it with me to shoot it outside. Being asked to create a new photo for Brickcentral felt like the right opportunity to finally go for it! I prepared the photo by picking and preparing a little stand with plateau to place my model in the water. I made this for an earlier photo with a great crested grebe and a chick. I now added a plate with rubber bands so it could resist the force of the kingfisher model tipping it. Beside the stand I also packed some paper towel to remove drops from the model and my camera and lens. For this photo I specifically picked my 28-75 lens, because I knew beforehand I would be very close to my subject.

When I arrived at the location I had in mind I found out that everything was overgrown with reeds. I had to find an other spot without the reeds. Unfortunately no reeds meant less shallow water. My stand was not long enough to reach the bottom. I improvised by extending it with a branch I found. Here the rubber bands came in handy, because that’s how I attached the stand to the branch. Phew…

I placed the stand right below the surface of the water. Time to attach the model!

After a couple of photos I decided to change the placement a little to make better use of the background (more reeds visible). I picked the stand entirely to move it when I messed up big. The kingfisher fell off the clip and dropped in the water. For a second I was in shock, but luckily it was floating. I even had time to take a picture of it floating.

After drying the kingfisher with the paper towel the setup for the final photo looked like this.

I took the photo just above the surface of the water to capture as much of the surroundings as possible. As you can see I was pretty close to the subject and holding my camera below me. Keeping it steady was not easy, so I chose a shutter speed of 1/200. Beside the shutter speed I played with the aperture of the lens. I tried 2.8 and 4.5 and was most satisfied with 4.5. The sharpness in the model was better and the surrounding reeds had more character.

Unedited photo taken with an aperture of 2.8 for reference

I placed the subject into the frame using the rule of thirds with the movement of the subject in mind (moving into the frame).

As you can see in the unedited image I had to get rid of the plate below the water surface in the edit. Here I used a combination of the clone tool and generative fill in photoshop. If the water was more wrinkled the plate would have been a lot less visible. Downside from wrinkles is a less clear reflection. After all I’m pretty happy with the final result and hope you enjoyed this little insight!"

Thanks for all the insights SKABRAM.builds! If you want to read this artist profile, head to our blog at https://brickentral.net/ - @theaphol, Community Outreach Manager

[askblueandviolet]

[studshooters]

BTS of composite technique shot and edited on an iPhone posted on r/studshooters by u/TongWars

[angelpinkpasta]

🤨yea okay

[pine-rhyme]

Lost in the moment...

[happi-dreams]

my gal !! finished edition :]

[oblivious-aro]

for the director's commentary ask - what's something neat about Where the Sky Meets the Sea that you wanna talk about?

Hmm... what to talk about...what to talk about...

Here's something let's see where this goes:

Back when the fic was still in its planning stages, I wasn't super sure if I wanted Nya to reciprocate Jay's romantic interest.

My initial instinct was to keep their relationship platonic (which I did ultimately go with), but I hesitated, wondering if I had some biases that kept me from exploring an interesting story option.

Because there is something there about Nya wanting to be in a relationship, but denying her desire because she knows that'll further encourage the public to define her by her gender, something that's already been made clear to be a massive problem for her this season.

While it'd be a neat (and basically cacon) concept to dig into, considering society's general struggle with amatonormativity and rape culture (I know that feels like a heavy word for a lego show, but Jay does canonically spend the season continuing to pursue Nya after ahe says 'no' without facing any consequences, and is in fact ultimately rewarded with the relationship he wanted, which...definitely isn't encouraging feminist thoughts in kids), I ultimately just couldn't end a story where someone says 'no' to a romantic relationship with her getting into that romantic relationship anyway in good conscience.

You may have noticed that the ending to Where the Sky Meets the Sea is in fact very anathema to the idea of obligatory romance. I love how the ending turned out, and I love the idea of the events of Skybound bringing Jay and Nya closer together, but very clearly not in a romantic way, and the characters end up better and happier for it. I love the message Jay growing out of needing romantic validation and learning to check himself sends to the audience. I love how that narrative validates Nya's choices and struggles, something both the Ninjago show and fandom often fail to do.

And I'm not the only one who liked the ending. I've gotten some great comments from people talking about how much they REALLY liked the ending (some of them are even from Jaya shippers, which is super flattering), and it's really awesome to see a platonic version of the main Ninjago ship enjoyed by my audience as much as I enjoyed it.

Bonus fun fact: When I was writing the scene where Jay and Nya rowed up to the lighthouse, this fanart by @penofwildfire was a major inspiration:

I think it's straight-up replaced the actual scene from the show in my brain. It really captures the bleak hopelessness of their situation so well. The show uses a similar colour palette, but the dialogue kind of kills that mood. That scene works so much better in silence.

[storiesinbricks]

The Last Night of the Titanic

In the dark night the Titanic steams through the Atlantic ocean on her way to the faithfull meeting with the iceberg...

A friend of mine bought the huge Lego Titanic and a fitting light kit. Since I helped him build it and install the lights, I got some time with this beautiful set to take some pictures. With the size of the model, this isn't an easy task... But all what you can see in the pictures is done with practical effects!

How it was done:

Of course with the light kit, the model shines in the night and a ship needs water to swim in. So I tried to make my living room into the Atlantic Ocean:

Since it is a full model and not only a waterline model, I first layed some panels around the model in the hight of the waterline. On this raised level, I layed black plastic waste bags and and transparent cellophane foil on it. The wrinkling of the transparent foil gives a nice impression of waves when viewed from a low angle.

For the icebergs, I made a structure out of Lego and just covered it in cotton.

The (lower) background consists of big black cardboards. To make the stary background I used a technique I explain in detail in an article on the @brickcentral blog (check it out here). In short, I use a black cardboard with holes and a flash behind it. The light shines through the holes to make light spots i.e. stars. Since I don't have a carboard big enough for the whole image, I took several pictures with the star-cardboard in different locations and stiched them together in post.

[rhysmaart]

A very, very early test for the intro of lego clash! While I’m still going to be doing the majority of the boarding for the pilot episode, I will not be the one doing the intro in its current state. In addition, the intro song is going to be “kaboom!” By I fight dragons, not “let’s clash-test instrumental”, which is being used here. Although this one was made just for clash and will likely appear in the episode in some way, we felt an intro with lyrics made more sense for the energy of the show.

[pengtheplush]

Not me, gradually acquiring a comical number of custom textures practically indistinguishable from each other with each project-

(Textures used on Zog versus Ratbag versus Akoth)

[theplatypusblue]

COMPILING ALL LEGENDS OF CHIMA SEASON 1 THOUGHTS BELOW THE READ MORE (super long post, written as I was watching)

(I can be a little mean but I promise I’m having fun lol)

Episodes 1 + 2:

Man this shits super boring.

Idk if I can get behind craggers plot line tbh. He’s too much of a dumbass for me to really root for him.

The lore seems really cool so far. I like the settings and the stuff about the legend beasts.

Like?? Forest full of trees that just fall down all the time? Epic.

Legend beasts are especially cool cuz it means this is how Chima characters react when seeing a regular ass lion for the first time:

Episode 3:

Man Laval really fucked everything up.

I have a feeling all of cragger’s dumbass-ness, like, transferred over to laval and now we’re gonna be seeing him making all the dumbass decisions

The only thing I really care about here is the b-plot about Gorzan and his flower. More engaging than the main plot

Episode 4:

Prediction about Laval replacing Cragger as the resident dumbass seems to be coming true

Gorzan is quickly becoming my favorite.

Oh hey look it’s the beavers!! I remember they show up in that one episode of ninjago. I had zero context for what they were all about then but now I know!!

Episode 5:

The gorilla tribe seems like the most chill out of everyone. Gorillas 👍

Can I just say I hate the fucking skunk. He sucks.

Honestly kind of a nothing episode

Episode 6:

Eagle spire does that cool thing where all the buildings are built on super scary precipices. There’s literally a post going around about this exact thing but I can’t find it rn

Oh so the eagles are just a bunch of nerds. A little weird I guess(?) I feel like eagles are usually symbols of strength n stuff so that’s different. It’s giving cloud kingdom.

“Wing girl” tf kinda nickname??

Apparently the ravens are double crossing everyone but I have not been paying close enough attention to what’s going on to really process that

Ok so it was all an extremely convoluted way for the crocs to get everyone to fight each other. And the ravens tried to profit but they’re kinda stupid so nothing really worked out for anyone

Episode 7:

Purble moon??? Epic

Man the bears are so epic just like me fr

Nooo don’t mess w the gorillas they’re so chill :(

I am entirely uninterested in the 100 year full moon skunk fart lore. Sorry.

It’s a little strange and maybe I’m hallucinating but I feel like the animation has has somehow gotten better?? Like the lighting or smthn…. Or the facial expressions???

Oh….. skunk fart lore is plot relevant………

Now that I’m thinking… is that the only skunk in chima?? Cuz rn it looks like just the one guy

Episode 8:

Oh it’s a big boy chi

There’s a fucking peacock?? Don’t know how to spell his name. So wait if he wins who does the chi go to?? He gets it all to himself?

Oh wait nvm it’s probably a cragger thing. Mr. Peacock comes back after retirement or w/ever in order to do some evil shit with the crocs I get it I get it

Gorzan I love you

WHO THE FUCK IS THAT GUY?? Is it a pig? A warthog??? It’s giving Mr. E vibes.

Man idk this episode is structured rlly weirdly. Nothing really fit together very well. It’s alright tho.

Episode 9:

GORILLA EPISODE?? Let’s go dude

It funny cuz I feel like gorillas aren’t actually this mellow irl

STOP FUCKING WITH THE GORILLAS CRAGGER I’LL KILL YOU

Oh hey it’s our mystery mans. Oh nevermind he left again.

There are balloon plants?? Oh yeah those are the things they were using in the other episode. Sorry I wasn’t paying attention to anything else that happened.

Episode 10:

Uhh I forgot to take notes while watching uhhh

The fox guy was cute. I like a little fox guy

This episode managed to make me feel a little bad for cragger!! He wants to do a good job but he kinda sucks at everything :(

It also made me confused abt cruller!!! What are you doing w ur life girl!!!!

Kinda messed up how the wolves had to serve the crocodiles tho… probly for the best she threw away that pledge

If Laval’s dad is right when he says they’re not gonna race for chi for a long time, I’m guessing they’re not gonna do any more racing episodes for some time. That’s fine honestly.

WAIT THAT RHINO GUY’S DYING. Oh nvm. This whole situation is cringe I hope it’s a one-off thing….

Also I forgot everyone thinks craggers parents are dead but really they’re just chilling in that canyon. Kinda funny actually

Episode 11:

Oh man the wolves are fucking everything up

“We all gotta stay here till the walls are fixed” bruh just call the beavers or smthn

Man what is the deal with this shadow wind dude.

If there’s one similarity I could point out with ninjago, it’s all this talk abt ~the balance~. I guess it makes sense since they take place in the same universe, technically

These bears are so cute lol napping does solve everything so true

Episode 12:

Jets travel super fast in the air. If they’re going through a storm Laval should totally be dead by now

Cragger is setting boundaries!! We love to see it. Cruller is acting pretty cringe. In her ~~girlfailure era~~

Is Laval gonna fall in this gorge?? Oh yeah he’s gonna fall in this gorge

Noooo Gorzans underwear is gonna tear

It’s a little sweet how Laval still wants to help out cragger

Episode 13:

I guess I’m still not super into cragger but I pity him a little. He’s trying his best but he’s just a bit stupid. And also his sister sucks ass

Okay. So she may be cringe but cruller is living her best(-ish) life.

That wolf is wearing a really cute apron

Man they were bringing up Shadow wind earlier and I thought they were gonna reveal their identity but now I’m a bit disappointed…

Laval is being peak dumbass rn I kinda like it. “The warm milk of oppression” lol

Episode 14:

“You bears think you’re so clever” bro they are literally asleep I don’t think they give a shit

I think the thing with Cragger is that I absolutely hate him when he’s under the influence of the flower thingy. He’s unlikable in a not-so-fun way, but he seems much more cute/compelling when he’s normal lol.

Oh my god they’re getting back-alley chi lmao

Oh is everyone gonna think Cragger did this on purpose. That’s sad.

This Reagle(?) guy is really silly I like his design a lot

Ohhhhh the wolves are gonna plug the fake chi and become chickens. It’s not a Cragger-might-be-evil thing. Gotchaaaa that’s cute

Seeing Cragger and Leval act like buddies again is genuinely nice they’re friends :)

Episode 15:

Eagles are based communists that live in the sky got it 👍

Cruller stop fucking with the gorillas istg.

Okay what the hell did burning the flower do. Is that like taking an inhalant

The ravens attempted to use the eagles’ based communist values against them. However, they didn’t realize that the eagles are boring as shit, and don’t “own” anything cool in the first place. Based communist eagles for the win.

Okay wait is Eris liking the rhino like. A brand new development or was it hinted at before?? It’s been a hot second since I watched the last couple episodes

Also I recognize that animation from the Ninjago season 5 finale lol

Episode 16:

Man I just hate this stupid skunk

This fog of destiny stuff is really goofy looking from the outside lmao it’s hard to take serious

So it’s like. Making them entirely delusional or something? Some of them are acting the opposite of how they usually do, but others are having like, delusions of grandeur. Idk how it works exactly

Laval there has got to be a smarter way to wake them up. You keep getting thrown into the lake…. Oh my god is the skunk gonna fart again. If that’s literally how they wake them up I’m gonna be so mad.

Oh okay thank god I was wrong.

Oh wait it randomly made cragger evil again. Man come on.

Cruller you stupid dumb idiot lmao get wrecked honestly

I hope the skunk dies like actually for real

Episode 17:

Oh shit Lavals dad also had a best friend that did shitty things and eventually grew apart from?? Damn.

Also Laval in exile time!!! Hopefully this will be cool

Eh. It’s not so cool with the skunk around

OH SHIT is the shadow wind the guy that was exiled before??? Ohhhhh

Ahhh okay Cruller backstory time. Damn girl was getting compared to her sibling straight out the egg. Didn’t even have a moment to spare there huh

Noooo Laval you just enslaved the wolves again by giving him the treaty. That was like the one cool thing cruller manages to do

Oh. I guess the exile thing literally didn’t matter at all lmao kinda underwhelming

Episode 18:

Lol so Cragger is such a dickhead now it’s even causing his stupid ominous dream to take notice

Okay so the floating mountain that gives everyone the chi also makes you on fire when you touch it. Chima world building really is epic man I gotta include random cool shit in my stories once I get around to writing stuff

This definitely feels like part of a finale lol maybe we’ll finally learn what the deal is w shadow wind

Andddddd the chi’s all fucked up now

Episode 19:

Tbh I would also be kinda mad at the lions like. They had no idea what they were doing or if it would have any negative consequences.

Man the whole thing with the wolves just kinda. Fizzled out huh? Like a few episodes ago they had ~all the chi in chima~ and now they’re all like “idk man why don’t we all just get along” lol

I love the attitude of just asking the beavers to fix the mountain. Like let’s just chuck a couple of construction workers at this malfunctioning holy site that’ll probably work

Episode 20:

I’m guessing this is the finale?? Let’s see

Laval looks so weird without his little crown thingy lol hes so square

He’s definitely not dead tho

CROCODILE LETS GOOO!!!!! EPIC!!!

OH UM. Okay well that complicates things. And there’s like a million other questions we still haven’t answered but ok. I guess all of that other stuff can wait until later????

I thought the eagle guy said chima only had 2 moons left before everything fell apart?? So they really gotta get the ball rolling on that one uhm. Oh well.

**EDIT** Last time I posted this I thought it stopped at episode 13 for some reason?? Tubi is stupid; thanks to the person who pointed out the actual episode number. I’ll probably stop here for a while, sorry it took so long to update this lol. My initial thoughts and feelings haven’t really changed all that much, so I’ll keep them as they were:

I definitely feel like it’s a show that doesn’t have super strong characters. I think it would better if the show leaned more into the world it’s created instead, if that makes sense. Maybe later the character writing will improve a little bit, and I’ll changed my tune. But!! Who knows. I’m having fun with it.

Idk when I’ll get to season 2, cuz I get super busy sometimes (I started this one a couple months ago but couldn’t finish it till now ugh) but I do want to continue watching!! Eventually!!!

[brickcentral]

Hello there!

We've asked to our spotlighted artist verolegoland to provide an exclusive picture for @brickcentral along with some insights on how he made it, and here's what she have to say:

"I wanted to create a picture with cold color but with a warm atmosphere, where we can feel the love and the peaceful moment. I used a dark construction paper as ground and put plastic wrap on it to get the water effect.

I often use my iPad as a background. I add light and mist to get the atmosphere I wanted to create.

I saw people using a facial spray to create mist and I love the idea! I always try different angles with my light until I get it."

Thanks for all the insights verolegoland! If you want to read this artist profile, head to our blog at https://brickentral.net/ - @theaphol, Community Outreach Manager

[askblueandviolet]

baihe was out and about when the sky was cracking ! u sure u didn’t portal her (and mao <3) outta her house for apocalyptic freedom ?

[fogaminghub]

🚀 Mark your calendars! On November 14, LEGO Horizon Adventures hits the shelves! Experience a playful reimagining of Aloy's journey, complete with real LEGO brick constructions! 

Unleash your creativity, customize your characters, and enjoy the co-op gameplay with friends! Get ready for wacky adventure and endless fun! 🧱✨  

[konschmidt]

LEGO Billboards - Behind the Scenes

[heal2ninjagogirl]

What it feels like joining a fandom when I'm not even close to finishing the series yet