Duplo Jet-Man

Remember back in the day, you know, Lego Thursdays?!?  Well as the wheels of blogging fate would have it, here's a completely random Lego, err, Duplo build I did in the classroom some time back and now I'm posting it...on a Thursday.

Sometimes the stars simply align, you just can't make this stuff up.  It's a three piece, minimalist build in the East/West studs orientation style.  Well, four pieces if you count the pilot.  Well, five pieces if you count the piece I had to tack on just to get the whole thing to balance upright.

Yeah, that's about it for this one, until next time, enjoy!

The Last LEGO Thursday: The GLAST

Look! It's the GLAST! Sheesh, this photo is so old (look at the monitor in the pic) that they don't even call it the GLAST anymore!

Also, this is the last LEGO Thursday, for real this time. You know me, I'll always have LEGO content here at Mik's Minis, but starting next Thursday we will have a new weekly feature. So far it is queued up for, oh, about sixty weeks or so. Until then I hope you have enjoyed all of these LEGO Thursdays, and like I said, there's always going to be LEGO content, that's what started this whole thing off years ago.

Speaking of new content, not only does next Thursday start a new, ongoing regular feature, but tomorrow will see the rise of another new feature...with a new author. So class, we will have a new student tomorrow, they're not from around here but I want all of you to do your best to make them feel welcome!

LEGO Thursday: Micro Reliant

Ha, there was one more undocumented build lurking in the archives; a micro-scale Miranda class ship from the Star Trek franchise, the USS Reliant. I picked this ship because it was hijacked by Khan in the best sci-fi remake of Moby Dick ever.



I did break a major Lego "purist" rule in this build in that I painted the radar dish. I don't know if they make an all-white dish, but I didn't have one so necessity dictated it. I'm not too concerned with 'purism' when it comes to playing with toys though.


Looking at this comparison shot I'm sure I could've done the nacelles differently. I think a duo of parallel, flat, and smooth 1x3's trailing behind the ship would've made this a tad better. As it stands, it still gets the point across. Enjoy!

LEGO Thursday: Jungle-Based Adventurers

At one point our Forgotten Realms party had to go down the the Jungles of Chult, south of Calimshan. I forget exactly what was going on, but we knew our characters would be there for a while so I decided to whip up new bases for the party. Obviously these are supposed to be dense and lush with jungle-like vegetation. We also had a quickly growing collection of wizard familiars and winged animal companions, and everyone insisted on actually using them too! To accommodate for all the birds I made little tree-stands too.


Halfling wizard with proxy-owl


"big, dang" Elf in third party plate armor


Mulhorandi cleric


Gnome Wizard/Thief with raven


Human druid with eagle

LEGO Thursday: The Hunt, the Ultimate Arena Sport

Raise your hand if you've ever heard of The Hunt, the Ultimate Arena Sport. Some of you? None of you? Well I picked it up a long time ago, twenty years to be exact and no, and I've never played it, haha. So if you've played it, let me know how it is.

I wanted to play it though, and at one point I was going to use LEGOs for it, not surprisingly, eh? It's a miniatures game with very, very light RPG elements set in a Running Man type dystopian future where the Hunt is televised and sponsored. For the most part you are hunting down prey, usual riff-raff of convicts and such. However, in each maze there are foxes, which are super-criminals who are just as armed and deadly as the players themselves. Of course taking down a fox earns you lots of cash and prizes.

The Prey; average convicted Joes of corporate crime, speeding tickets, etc.

Low-leveled prey, armed

Medium leveled prey with better arms and armor

Two of the foxes, as statted up in the book

Two more stock foxes (check out that bionic arm, ahem)

The camera crew for the event, my own touch

The Hunters themselves, the (relative) good guys in the game


Looking back at this I have no idea why the project failed to get the green light. Heck, looking at it here all I had to do was just run the game, all the prep work seems to have been done by this point. I don't know if my gaming group ever saw this either, so who knows, maybe it will garner enough interest to warrant breaking it out again.

LEGO Thursday: NPC Adventuring Party

Adventuring parties full of people's characters are well and good, but what about the NPC adventuring parties out there? Someone's gotta be neutral competition every now and then. You and your party of PC's can't always be the only tough-looking group of hombres in the tavern on that stormy night can you?

When dealing with NPC parties, they tend to lean on the side of two-dimensional. Above you have the stern and honor-bound warrior monk woman, the sneaky and deadly Elf rogue, and the quirky, absent-minded Gnome wizard.

LEGO Thursday: Convention Gaming

Here's a Historicon 2011 shot of some French-Indian War action using LEGO (of course). Thanks to Andy sending this to me a while back.

LEGO Thursday: You're Eating People! Lego People!

Tuxedo-equipped Minifig Groom's Cake


Last summer fellow gaming buddy Bi3cuit, longtime resident artist around these parts, got married. Being the AFoL that he is, there was Lego baking to be had at the reception. He saved the head for a game night a week later. I ate the eyeball.

LEGO Thursday: LEGOLotR

Not the freshest announcement by the time this has rolled around, but still, how exciting is this? Of course if you're not into LEGO, and/or not a big fan of Lord of the Rings then the announcement that LEGO has picked up the LotR franchise probably doesn't mean too terribly much to you. But then again if you're not a fan of either one of those...how did you find this place? Due out next summer, start saving those shekels.

The End of LEGO Thursday?

I can't believe this is posting at the end of December, the end of the year. Back when I started LEGO Thursdays I thought it might be good for, maybe, the summer. But the entirety of 2011? Forget it. I'm typing this in the middle of June, so it's kind of weird.

I joked with my wife that if some terrible fate should befall me that I've got LEGO posts queued up for the next six months, so I'll still be blogging from beyond the grave! Kind of morbid to think of, but also kind of neat that my geek legacy would be both this blog and LEGO content. Err, also kind of sad if that's the extent of my legacy!

But let's not dwell on that! Last week's Water Merchant and Bodyguard was the last of the archived images and content so I thought it would be a good transition.

I've always got Lego content, just because the archived stuff has dried up doesn't mean I can't keep it going with new stuff. I have nothing for this post but since it is literally the last Thursday before 2012, we have to have something!

LEGO Thursday: Water Merchant and Retinue

It didn't take long to port all the new (at the time) fantasy figs over to my preferred genre, that of sci-fi. Similar to a post-apocalyptic environment, I saw this as a chance to create something of a harsh, backwater world away from the prying eyes of the galactic center.

Here power and wealth boil down to who controls what commodities. I decided on water as the number one commodity, and the ghastly looking gentleman in the black cloak is the water merchant. Sure I'm using a skeleton head, but it could easily be some type of alien. For his bodyguard I went with the Orcs, they're brutish enough to stand in for hired muscle, and with the green skin and protruding canines, they're easily recognizable enough as any number of thick browed sci-fi staple, reptilian or otherwise.


The Water Merchant

Bodyguard and right-hand man with heavy pistol, armor, and data-slate

Praetorian with impact shields, assault rifles, and heavy armor


Standard gear of a house praetorian is as follows. They are equipped with heavy armor, flexible in movement but thick enough to stop standard small arms as well as blast damage with reasonable tolerance levels. It also has a built-in nutrient suite and waste recyclers.

The helmet of the praetorian is the most recognizable on the streets, and one of the most sophisticated pieces of equipment for a non-status individual around. The wealth and influence of the water merchant ensures that the soldiers under his employ have only the best. The helmet has a full-spectrum sensor suite with auto-weapon link-up and target assistance software. It also boasts an impressive HUD that maintains a constant link with the control room back at the merchant's compound where vital signs, communications, and other information are continuously monitored.

The impact shields are another sought after piece of high technology. They incorporate a small-yield repulsor shield similar to the type found on bulk cruisers. This extends the coverage beyond the physical perimeter of the shield itself to cover most of the user. An optional mode that can be utilized is where both shields are planted into the ground and can converge to create a force bubble around the users and have room enough for one or two occupants in the center. This mode will quickly drain their power reserves, but can provide for a highly protective shield barrier at a moment's notice.

Rounding out the kit of the praetorian is their assault rifles. Made of high-grade materials and of a quality standard unknown among standard small arms, these rifles are an effective and reliable asset in the field. They are equipped with HUD links that co-witness with the helmet. The rifle itself has a variable ammo hopper which can switch between two different types of ammunition with just the flip of a switch. Praetorians usually carry multiple magazines of various types of ammunition on their person. In addition to the variable ammo, there is also an underslung, high-yield kinetic slug-thrower useful for large targets, breaching entries, and the like.

LEGO Thursday: Adversaries

You can't always be fighting dragons or goblins, sometimes you just have to duke it out with oppositely-aligned people of your own race.

A single, tooled-up and skilled bad guy can sometimes be a handful for a whole party if done right. Here on the left is just such a character, an Elf assassin. He's just as deadly with the bow as he is with his saber. He's got all kinds of stealth and can pick a pretty mean pocket if need be.

Don't let the smile fool you, these sellsword mercenaries are relentless in their pursuit and once signed to a contract, cannot be swayed. The human is an exotic weapons master and knows a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat. The Dwarf doesn't speak, but defines his actions by sword and prowess. Both have an obvious eastern vibe going on.

LEGO Thursday: Some More Castle Sets

First up is the small set of the 2007 Castle line, it was just a single human knight. He came with a ton of stuff however as you can see. If you had a spare mini-fig laying around you could put all the extra gear on them and have two figs. With the breastplate and full-faced helm, you wouldn't be able to tell if the extra was from the City series or whatever.



The next, the name I forgot, was a small/medium set pitting two humans with a catapult against two Undead behind a barricade. There were basically four factions in this series. The Dwarves and humans were the good guys and the Undead and Orcs were the bad guys. This gave plenty of variety too, maybe too much so. There were hints of a Wood Elf race to be introduced later but that may have been left on the cutting room floor.


A larger set, the Skeleton Ship Attack was pretty cool as well. It featured a good-sized human fortification and an awesome skeletal pirate ship, complete with skeleton pirate captain. Because they were cramming two things into one box, the ship wasn't the largest it could be, nor was the human fort.


The Troll Battle Wheel is a great set as well. I like to call it the Orc Battle Wheel, but whatever. It's a giant wheel of doom, rolling, crushing doom! It also has some kind of rocket that fires out of the middle, dunno about that. It has some very cool build features too, making the wheels were kind of neat. First you build them flat, like train tracks, but most of the pieces are joints. Then you just roll them up into a round shape around the center spokes and voila, instant huge Orc wheels of doom. It also came with an Orc hero looking fig.

LEGO Thursday: They Call it a Mine...a Mine!

When the Dwarves' Mine hit the scene it was a pretty amazing set. It came with scads of Dwarves, a decent showing of Orcs, and a big ole Troll. Not to mention the set itself was pretty cool and captured the Dwarf feel rather well.


The mine itself is very well thought out. It has multiple levels, different sections dedicated to different facets of the mine itself, and even a cool mine car track.

Weapon and armorsmith working at the anvil

A Dwarf miner by the lode cars

The Dwarf king with golden goblet and giant ruby

A warrior by the hearth, above is the ore tramway

Dwarf catapult (that really fires) for defense

All new figs, helmets, beards, swords, shields, the works...

The Dwarf mine showing you its backside