Category Archives: A to Z

A-to-Z Challenge Reflection 2018

Posted on by Standard 3

This year’s A-to-Z Challenge has come and gone. I have to say that I am feeling a little sad about that. But, there is one last post to make before it is officially over: my 2018 Challenge reflection. Last year, after my first challenge, I felt a little relieved. Joining the challenge in my first year had been a spur of the moment decision, and I scrambled through many of the posts. I decided last summer that I would try the challenge again, and began stockpiling posts in September. It was hard to keep from posting many of my projects for so long because I was quite proud of them. I was positively chomping at the bit to get the challenge started this year since I was much more organized and ready. I only scrambled with two posts this year. The challenge seemed to just fly by, and I am a little sad to see it go.

My theme for the A-to-Z Challenge this year was “LEGO-fied”. I took pop-culture posters and covers, and recreated them using LEGO Minifigures. If anyone has just found their way here and wants to have a look, or for those who want another look, here are the LEGO-fied posters that I made:

 

 

Armageddon LEGO-fied
Beautiful Trauma LEGO-fied
Captain America: Civil War LEGO-fied
Deep Blue Sea LEGO-fied
Star Wars: Episode I LEGO-fied
The Fast and the Furious LEGO-fied
Game of Thrones LEGO-fied
Batman re-LEGO-fied
Imagine Dragons LEGO-fied
Jagged Little Pill LEGO-fied
Kill Bill LEGO-fied
Life of Pi LEGO-fied
Memoires of a Geisha LEGO-fied
Ninjago re-LEGO-fied
The Others LEGO-fied
Prince of Persia LEGO-fied
Queen Latifah LEGO-fied
Jurassic Park LEGO-fied
Suicide Squad LEGO-fied
Bon Jovi LEGO-fied
Underworld LEGO-fied
Permanent Vacation LEGO-fied
Wonder Woman LEGO-fied
Xena LEGO-fied
Yoda LEGO-fied
Zorro LEGO-fied

If you would like to read more about the development and inspiration behind these posters, here are links to the individual posts:

I suppose that my favorite posts were the more challenging ones to produce. My E, S, T, and V posts took me the longest, and I was quite proud of them. Judging based on views and likes across all the social media that I use, you guys liked “L” is for Life of Pi the most.

Despite being slightly down about the challenge ending, there is a silver lining. When I was brainstorming for this challenge, I came up with a lot of duplicate ideas for certain letters. So, who knows, maybe those will see the light of day in the coming weeks and months. Thanks for sharing this journey with me through the 2018 April A-to-Z Challenge, it has been a blast.

Until next time,

-Tom

“Z” is for Zorro

Posted on by Standard 9

Z

That’s it! The last day of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge has arrived, and I made it through! For my final post of the 2018 challenge, I have opted for “Z” is for Zorro. My last LEGO-fied poster is based on The Mask of Zorro movie poster from 1998. The film starred Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It was an entertaining movie that I remember enjoying back in high school. There was a sequel in 2005, but it wasn’t as good.

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LEGO Zorro – trial 1

I picked Zorro for this post not only because of the movie, but also because of a show I used to watch when I was little. Zorro was a show that ran from 1990-1993 on YTV in Canada. I was still in elementary school when the show aired, and I don’t remember much about it, except that I loved it. Many years later, I picked up a book written by Isabel Allende out of nostalgia. It was in the discount section of Chapters, and turned out to be a very entertaining origin story for the character. So, in terms of heroes, I would say I am a Zorro fan.

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LEGO Zorro – Trail 2

For this final LEGO-fied post, I had to make a custom Zorro Minifigure. I used Darth Maul’s body for the black costume. He’s also wearing the black cape from my Darth Revan Minifigure. The face is that of one of the common criminals you can get in just about any police set. His sword is the fencer’s from Minifigure series 13. I had a bit of trouble with the hat. You can see in the first picture above that I originally had a fedora going, but it just didn’t look “Zorro” enough. I wanted the brim to be flatter, so I ended up using a black witch’s hat, and just Photoshopping the pointed top out.

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The Mask of Zorro poster LEGO-fied

Well, that is it. I can’t believe it is over. Here’s one last link to the official site for the A-to-Z Challenge, in case you want more information. As always, I welcome any of your thoughts, or stories, or parting words in the comments space below. I have really had a great time with this year’s challenge, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it too. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Be sure to keep checking back for my regular LEGO content. Who knows, maybe some more LEGO-fied images will make their way into a future Minifigure Monday post (Minifigure Monday was put on hiatus for April, but returns next week).

Until next time,

-Tom

“Y” is for Yoda

Posted on by Standard 6

Y

Star Wars gets another entry in this year’s LEGO-fied A-to-Z Challenge post. I had a lot of trouble with the letter “Y”, I just finished this poster about five minutes before I wrote this entry! The idea wasn’t mine, a colleague suggested it to me yesterday when I mentioned that I didn’t have a post yet for today. My wife had suggested it earlier too, but I didn’t have a Yoda Minifigure. Thankfully, LEGO just released a new, inexpensive set featuring Yoda (which I will review later). So, I went to buy the set last night, built it, and photographed the Minifigure this morning. Talk about a whirlwind post!

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The photo I took of my new Yoda Minifig for this post.

Yoda is one of my all-time favorite Star Wars characters. Even when I was small, and didn’t really know Star Wars, I knew who Yoda was. In elementary school, one of my favorite songs was “Yoda” by Weird Al Yankovic (a parody of “Lola” by the Kinks). In more recent years, I have had a really good laugh over “Seagulls”, a Bad Lip Reading video on YouTube featuring Yoda.

For this poster, I decided to remake one that I saw for the Clone Wars animated series a while back. I really liked that show, almost more than the films. For my Yoda photo, I made a little overcoat out of a piece of brown paper bag. I popped Yoda’s arms out of their sockets and sticky-tacked them to his body in order to get the positioning right. The lightsaber is Qui-Gon’s from the Duel on Naboo set (click here to read my review).

This post was made as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, you can click here to visit the official site for more information. The challenge is nearing an end, be sure to check back on Monday for my final LEGO-fied post in the series!

Until next time,

-Tom

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My LEGO-fied Yoda poster!

“X” is for Xena: Warrior Princess

Posted on by Standard 5

X

Last year, during the A-to-Z Challenge, I made a post called “X is for Xena”. This year, I am doing a post called “X is for Xena”. “X” is a hard letter. Last year, I just took some pictures of the Minifigure that was allegedly modeled after Xena. She was released in Minifigure series 10. This year, I have taken the cover for season 5 of Xena: Warrior Princess, and LEGO-fied it. I was a really big fan of Xena growing up. If only Lucy Lawless would make an appearance at a comic con near me (Montreal preferably, but I can swing Ottawa, or even Toronto, if you are reading this Lucy.)

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My Xena Minifigure.

This year, I changed the hairpiece on my Xena Minifigure. I replaced it with the hair from Spooky Girl, that came in Minifigure series 12. I just thought it looked more like Xena’s hair with the bangs and all. Did you like Xena? Feel free to comment below. This post was made as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, you can click here to visit the official site for more information.

Until next time,

-Tom

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The cover of Xena: Warrior Princess, season 5 LEGO-fied.

“W” is for Wonder Woman

Posted on by Standard 7

W

I’ve already talked about my love for DC Comics, and my appreciation of the DC Extended Universe films. My favorite of those films so far has been Wonder Woman. I will admit that I was apprehensive when I heard that Gal Gadot was going to to play the character in Batman V Superman. But, she won me over pretty quickly, and ended up being the best part of that movie, despite her character being a little superfluous to the story. Her performance in Wonder Woman was even better, and she stole the show in Justice League.

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My collection of Wonder Woman Minifigures.

For this LEGO-fied post, I chose to recreate one of the posters produced for the Wonder Woman movie. LEGO made their own versions of all the Wonder Woman posters already, but I still thought that I would have fun and make my own. In order to get the effect of the Minifigure crossing her arms, I actually had to pop the arm right out of their sockets and sticky-tack them to her body.

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The Wonder Woman shot that I used in the creation of my poster.

Wonder Woman has always been one of my favorite DC characters. Do you have any stories or thoughts to share on Wonder Woman? Feel free to comment below. This post was made as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. You can click here to visit the official site to learn more.

Until next time!

-Tom

WWPoster

LEGO-fied Wonder Woman movie poster.

“V” is for Vacation

Posted on by Standard 3

V

“V” is for vacation… Permanent Vacation that is. To say that I have been a huge Aerosmith fan for a large chunk of my life would be an understatement. As a teenager, my walls were simply plastered with every Aerosmith poster and magazine cover that I could get my hands on. I had every album, some in duplicate if there was an international version with a different track listing or extra song. I have seen Aerosmith in concert five times. I even used to trade in Aerosmith bootleg concert videos. And the song that started it all? Dude (Looks Like a Lady) from Permanent Vacation.

 

LEGO Playing cards
LEGO guitar

In truth, I actually heard Dude (Looks Like a Lady) for the first time in the movie Mrs. Doubtfire. I loved the song, but I had no idea it was by Aerosmith. My older sister introduced me to Aerosmith when she and her friends started listening to Get A Grip. I fell in love with songs like Cryin’ and Amazing. The first Aerosmith album I ever bought was Big Ones, a greatest hits compilation. It had my favorites from Get a Grip on it, but it also had Dude (Looks Like A Lady). That started a decades-long, borderline obsession with the band. While my devoutness has waned a little with age, I still consider myself a fan.

 

LEGO snake
LEGO money

For today’s post, I went with a drawing rather than photography. That allowed me to stay true to the original album cover. Apart from the Aerosmith logo and text, everything else on my LEGO-fied cover is a drawing of an actual LEGO element. The Minifigure is the Hula Dancer from series 3. The playing cards are from the Jester in series 12. The other parts are pretty standard LEGO pieces available in many sets.

 

LEGO Hula Dancer
LEGO flower
LEGO Spider

Aerosmith has been the soundtrack to much of my life. I even associate the timing of major events in my life with the Aerosmith songs or albums that were released at the same time. Are you an Aerosmith fan? Or perhaps you have some Aerosmith memories to share? Feel free to leave a comment below. This post was made as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, you can click here to visit the official site.

Until next time,

-Tom

PermanentVacationCoverWeb

Aerosmith Permanent Vacation cover LEGO-fied!

“U” is for Underworld

Posted on by Standard 6

U

I love a good vampire movie. So, today, my LEGO-fied A-to-Z Challenge post is all about Underworld. I am a huge fan of this movie, but only the first one. I like the prequel too, but after the first film, I have found the sequels to be a little lacking in many areas. The story introduced in the first film of an underground war between werewolves and vampires was a great idea. Kate Beckinsale played a mean vampire, and I loved the portrayal of vampire society in the film.

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LEGO werewolf from Minifigures series 14.

For this poster, I took a photo of the LEGO werewolf from Minifigure Series 14, and used it to create the silhouette in the moon. I made the Kate Beckinsale Minifigure using the female vampire face from Spider Lady Minifig, also from series 14. The body and hair are from the Jewel Thief in series 15. Her coat is just a piece of cloth with some holes cut in for her arms. The ledge she stands on was built using random pieces in my collection.

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The “Kate Beckinsale” Minifigure I made for this LEGO-fied Underworld poster.

Do you have a favorite vampire movie? Or some thoughts to share about Underworld? Feel free to leave a comment below. This post was made as part of the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, you can click here to visit the official site to learn more about it.

Until next time,

-Tom

UnderworldPosterWEB

LEGO-fied Underworld poster.