The Brick Connection– A novice Lego fan explores the great brick world of LEGO

Hello…Hello? Is this thing on?!

Have I been posting this blog correctly? Dammit, have I been doing that thing where I’m posting privately, so it only appears on my newsfeed

Wait no, this isn’t Facebook!

The reason I ask is because apparently no one wants to leave any comments. I know there are at least a few people reading this blog. And I know not all of those people are related to me, so what gives? Leave a comment! Even if it’s just to say hi.

Maybe I should do a BrickWarriors giveaway to whoever leaves the best comment…

…nah!! But perhaps we’ll revisit this idea another week.

So the last two weeks we discussed minifigures. First we discussed different types of minifigures and then we discussed different ways of dressing up minifigures. The logical next step is stop-motion animation with minifigures.

Okay, well that’s actually taking a giant, humongous, crazy leap forward. But don’t worry. I will not be attempting stop-motion myself. I am well aware of the time, patience, detail, focus, patience, creativity, and patience that is necessary to take on such a project.

On one of my all-time favorite shows, Parks and Recreation, the character Ben Wyatt attempts stop-motion animation when he tries to "tear claymation a new one."

Originally he is excited about his project, as you can see in this scene here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/317498

But after 3 weeks of work, he ends up with this:

Don't worry Ben, stop-motion is HARD!!

Now I have attempted NON-stop-motion Lego minifigure animation. It was for my vlog (Behind the BrickWarriors Mask) in a segment called BrickWarriorsWood. It’s Hollywood, but with plastic. Or at least, a different kind of plastic (ba dum ching!)

In most of these segments I take an actual scene from a movie or TV show, and using the real audio, I play out the scene with Lego minifigures dressed in BrickWarriors accessories. Let me repeat that this is NOT stop-motion. I don’t have a million hours in my work day to attempt such a thing. But please enjoy some examples of my minifigure film work.

From my cleverly named episode "This is Not Sparta," here's a scene from 300. It starts at 3:13.

I’m still super proud of this installment of BrickWarriorsWood. Particularly the magical special effect. Check it out starting at 1:10. It’s Harry Freakin Potter!!  

So those were my attempts at “playing” with minifigures in a non-stop-motion way. And that was before I even became a LEGO fan. Now that I'm a real fan, maybe I should try actual stop-motion LEGO animation?!

Or maybe I should leave it to people who know what they’re doing.

Which concludes my long introduction to this week’s topic: Minilife TV!

Minilife TV is an awesome YouTube channel that features a show called Minilife TV put on by two LEGO minifigures, Chris and Ian. But guess what? The show is actually put on by two real live human beings named Chris and Ian. Shocking, right?

I stumbled upon this gem while researching minifigure stuff on YouTube.

All you need to know is that it’s a show about everything and it's quite funny. It does have some mildly "inappropriate" humor though, so it's not a kids show.

 

Here is the YouTube playlist of the first season:

I'm going to share some of my favorite lines to hopefully entice you to watch:

As long as you’re wearing your anti-icicle trousers, you’ll be fine.

Dammit Claire, I already filled the syringe! There’s no turning back now.

If you think I'm poking you now, just wait till I'm friends with you on Facebook.

Obviously one cat is more than enough to take down a full-grown man.

Lego fans will especially enjoy episode 14 called "Sh*t LEGO People Say," which features lines like these:

It's weird how we have claws.

Why does my ass have holes in it?

Dude, they're all flat-chested

  A few general observations about Minilife TV:

• It's all over the place in terms of plot and storylines, but that's not a bad thing.
• I don't even want to think about how long it takes to create these episodes. The 15 episodes of the first season range from under 3 minutes to nearly 8 minutes in length. I'm going to guess each episode might take a couple weeks or more to complete.
• I don't really know what qualifies as good stop-motion animation, but I think these guys are good. The movement of the arms and hands really animates the characters in more ways than one. Even if you turn the audio off and just watch the minifigures move, you can tell if they're excited, annoyed, angry, etc.
• They even change the facial expressions! Amazing!
• As someone who has attempted amateur special effects in video editing, I can say that this show has pretty awesome special effects.
• Genuinely funny and clever writing. Sometimes it doesn't even feel scripted. This is helped by the fact that these guys are really good voice actors.
• They could have used some BrickWarriors accessories. The wrapped baby, RPG launcher, and a special forces SMG, just to name a few.
• Season 1 ends on a cliffhanger! And since season 1 originally came out in 2012, I'm going to assume The Lego Movie, which came out in 2014, totally ripped off Minilife TV.

So was this a really random topic for me to cover? (Yes.)

Could reviewing stuff like this help me to become an expert reviewer of Lego sets, minifigures, and what have you in the future? (Um, sure?)


Of course it will! I really do hope to review actual Lego products as I go further with this blog, and since I don't have any Lego products to review right now, I had to improvise. I did not pick this topic because I was too lazy to think of something original. Definitely not!

But I've only reviewed season 1 of Minilife TV. There are currently 4 seasons out and season 5 starts in a few weeks. Which means, you can look forward to more Minilife TV reviews from me in the future. Perhaps for a few weeks if I'm really at a loss for topics to cover, I'll do a scene by scene breakdown of each episode. Really get deep into the mythology of the show. Like what does Minilife TV say about our society as a whole?

I'll save that philosophical discussion for another day. In the mean time, tell me what your favorite Lego-related media are. Are there any other webseries I should be checking out? Also, what do you think of my attempt at Lego film-making. Do you want me in charge of The Lego Movie sequel? Unless I get comments that say otherwise, I'm going to assume yes.

Until next time....go do something with Lego!

*Compliments, general feedback, and constructive criticism are welcome. Any haters that are gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate can go step on some Lego with their bare feet.*