Dear readers, normally we look much more favorably on cows as a result of a steady diet of Far Side comics and hamburgers when we were children, but this horse by retinence is just too cool to pass up. The only things that could improve it would be a horn and rainbows shooting out its arse.

Motorized Ringo Starr!

U2 in concert!

Lazy sod paying attention to his blog for the first time in months!

...No, wait, you don't get a picture of that. I'm not lazy--well, okay, I am sometimes--but I have a life to be getting on with, too, you know.

As those of you involved with the larger Lego community may know, Nate Nielson, AKA nnenn, recently died. Many kind words have been said (most of them true), and many creations have been made in tribute to him (most of them good), so I'll let everyone else carry on with that and simply showcase some of this unique and creative builder's Bionicle and Technic-using creations.

His Sishliva Fighter may not look like it at first glance, but balls and sockets form an integral part of the rear construction:


These green ships each have Bionicle pieces forming a large part of them:


Finally, his Jula Mobile Defense Platform (one of my all-time favorites) uses Technic panels to create a deliciously curved body:

Primus's Call of Cthulhu uses inverted tires and tentacles to make an excellent squiddy sort of head. The rest of the diorama isn't too bad either. You can check out his short comic leading up to this creation if you're into that sort of thing.

Primus's Katsumoto is a fine samurai-inspired creation with some creative parts use. Note particularly the use of treads and the unified design aesthetic (read: poky bits) on the arms, shoulder armor, and torso.

Okay, so after the highly in-depth and scientific poll I took, the only things that clearly emerged were that people hate lime green and want to see more MOCs, both of which I happily ignored during the month of December. I could whine ad nauseam about real life and enumerate all the things that have been keeping me busy and stressed over the last few months, but that's not what you're here for and I'd feel like an egotistical prat for loading you with them anyway. So! The reredesign has been done, now to the creations.

Reader BCii submits Blue Diamond's latest creation, Chrome:
In addition to the excellent presentation, the robot itself has a delightfully offbeat, steampunkish vibe to it.

Chris Edwards has made a spaceship that makes good use of Bionicle pieces in several places. The black and yellorange make for a simple but striking color scheme.

Brickthing has built a really excellent Sweepod:

And Kohaku has made a stark, simplistic vignette of windmills in a post-apocalyptic world, definitely a first for the Bionicle/Technic medium. Regrettably, I cannot find further pictures nor his Flickr account.

Brickshelfer shaddow has a fine rendition of popular video game character Sonic the Hedgehog. Actually, I have no idea if he's popular anymore. I think he was at some point? I don't play many video games. Anyway, the Glatorian hands really come through here, and the head is well done.

Brought to you by a vague feeling that I should be blogging more and at the expense of mangling a Harry Potter paraphrase, the Bioniblog presents Distorted's Train. It's rather cute and chibified and has a "NPU," as the kiddies say, in the form of a Power Functions motor.

Fair Bricks

BrickFair 2009 took place recently, and there having been a peculiar and deplorable lack of good Bionicle MOCs recently, I have decided to throw patience to the winds and post pictures of some of the peculiarly and deplorably unpublished(?) MOCs that made their appearances there.

First up is an unattributed MOC, possibly black fantasy. Note the use of stingrays as ears.

Next, Bundalings's Packbot.

Perhaps most impressive, at least in terms of technical skill, is ToM's Autobot Jazz. Yes, it really transforms.


And because I'm a sucker for small cute MOCs, a model of the beetle Click from the upcoming Bionicle movie.

For more pictures, see here and here. BrickFair 2010 is August 5-8th of next year. Be there or be an oblong rectangularish sort of thing?

The Final Frontier...

...A la Bionicle, purrhaps? Well, with Dablackcat's UFO Invader...

...Primus's Steel Falcon...

...and my own (admittedly rather old) Green and Orange....

...Bionicle/Technic building is definitely making inroads into the space scene as of late. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues. Qapla'!

Rawr rawr rawr

Never mind that Kraata are little more than invertebrates (though admittedly superpowered ones), Distorted's Kraata skeleton is great regardless. The curvature and parts use combine to create a bit of a menacing aura about the thing.
Additionally, Peguo's "Cypris-Morpho" has a nice look, as well as an interesting hand technique.

Scuttle'n'shoot!

I enjoy the juxtaposition between the spindly legs and giant ray gun on Primus's Iron Wolf. The use of the rotated Miru Nuva as a head works well for this robot, too.

Stickin' to yer guns

The latest BBC contest has come to BZPower, and it's brought some spiffy guns with it. In the aesthetics corner, we have Neaku's Spontaneous Portal Generator Type II, inspired by (surprise!) the Portal gun:

Also, my own Zarking Space Gun:

GreenBioGuy's G.B.G, melding functionality with a decent color scheme:

Roa McToa's Flintlock Pistol, one of the few entries recognizably based off a real gun:

Ca'gerrin's Drencher 9001, which uses pneumatics for real water squirting action!

CzaR's Glock 9mm features Knight's Kingdom armor on the grip for a uniquely ergonomic solution:

Meteomaniac's "Set Phasers to Stun!" is a faithful rendition of the old-school Star Trek weapons.

I'll be quite surprised if some of these don't make it to the finals. But with nefarious entries such as the Mini Lazer Gun out to steal votes, who knows what will happen?

Twinkletoes!

O hai. So Zip's Kaftin is rather nice. I like the gun particularly.

Pretty Woman

Distorted's "The Lady" has got to be the best feminine Bionicle MOC since Toa-Ju's Playboy bunny. Inverted tires are once again put to good use in a MOC, this time as a tube dress. The use of Kanohi Nuva for the hair is also noteworthy.

Across the multiverse

Check out kawazu1120's sweet "elltalon". It knits together many diferent colors to make a neat, Optimus-Prime-like robot. I've often noticed that the Japanese style of MOCing is very different from ours, but different is often good.

Viridian...Veridian...

Not to be confused with the planet on which Captain James T. Kirk ultimately met his death, ToM's Viridian displays the usual level of schwayness we've come to expect from Mr. Muffin. Note in particular the use of that newfangled tri-axle piece for the belt/sash sort of thing.

And I've never been to Boston in the fall

Zip's Kaishu is rather full of schway and awesome. The use of fusion throughout makes for some great features, most notably the chest, thighs, and feet.